New beginnings
by Aussieflower
Summary: The original Doctor goes back to the parallel universe after JE, instead of handy. This is the story of the Doctor meeting Torchwood and Rose finally letting go of her cold facade. Companion piece to Rose Tyler at Torchwood.   Please review! xxx
1. Chapter 1

**This story serves as a companion piece to Rose Tyler at Torchwood, but it doesn't matter if you haven't read that first. You can read it first, but only because it sets the mood for this story.**

She was respected. Not feared, but she was known to be very firm and buisness-like. 

Cameras flashed around her, she had privileges, media surrounded her, limousines, parties and money surrounded her.

But she didn't care about any of it.

She was Rose Tyler of the Powell estates, not a vitex heiress. 

And she was working on a way back to the Doctor.

***DW***

Only her team knew what was going on.

Computer geniuses, technicians and egineers worked day and night on a mysterious object.

The director, pete Tyler, knew about the project of course, he had authorised it. But it had been Rose's idea.

A year after the project started, they succeeded. It was finished, and it worked.

The dimension cannon.

Her way back to the Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

**A very important thing in this fic is that the original Doctor went back with Rose, the duplicate never existed. The tenth Doctor managed to defeat Davros, and touched the hand, which resulted in the creation of the next regeneration. Donna decided to keep travelling with him, and Mickey went back with the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor finally allowed himself to love Rose in JE, because he missed her so much and regretted never saying those three magic words to her but also because the huon particles and bad wolf have been changing Rose to the point where she has a very extended life span and is able to heal from injuries a lot quicker and easier than a human should. Also, in case some of you noticed, Mickey's gran is still alive. **

Rose was so happy.

She had her Doctor back.

He was still the same, and finally he let himself love her. He had gotten some coral from the TARDIS, and decided they could grow one. It would take some time, but they had that right now.

They had a whole new universe to explore.

Like last time, they were at Bad Wolf bay, but this time Rose left the beach happy, not heartbroken.

But Jackie nearly slapped the Doctor. Again. Well, it was unavoidable really.

"Bloody Norway!" she cried, as the 11th Doctor dropped them off. She marched up to the Doctor and brandished her mobile in his face. "I barely have _signal_ here. Do you have any idea how long it's going to take for Pete to send one of his zeppelins around?"

The Doctor backed away, clutching Rose's hand in his. He could burst with happiness that he had Rose, but Rose seemed to come in a package with her mother. He could hear Mickey laughing in the background and saw the smile on Rose's face.

"That was the other Doctor, not me!" he practically squeaked, in a desperate attempt to defend himself. Beside him, Rose was shaking with silent giggles.

"Mum, give him a break!" she managed to say. "It shouldn't take more than 8 hours…I hope".

"Exactly!" the Doctor jumped in, already having calculated the time in which one of Pete's zeppelins would manage to fly from London to Bad wolf bay. "I'm sure we can pass the time some way…we can" -he looked around lamely, thinking. "Have a water fight?" he offered, seeing they were on a beach.

"A water fight?" Jackie cried. Obviously she wasn't that mad at the alien, she was overplaying it. It was fun terrifying him again…not many held that sort of power. Rose and Mickey knew what she was doing; both were unable to contain their laughter.

"It's bloody freezing!" She screamed at the Time Lord, barely managing to contain a smile at his fearful expression. "You've travelled all of time and space, and that's the best you can come up with?"

The Doctor shrank under her glare. "Run!" he told Rose and dragged her all the way down to the other side of the beach. Jackie watched her daughter, with a fond smile on her face. Her hand was held tightly by the Doctor and she was laughing as they ran together. Finally, she tripped and fell, pulling the Doctor down with her. Together they simply lay in the sand, talking and laughing.

It was good to see Rose so happy. She deserved it.

Mickey was watching Rose too, but with no hint of jealousy in his eyes. He had his own girlfriend now, but he and Rose had remained almost inseparable in this universe. Mickey was the only one who could properly understand what travelling with the Doctor was like. At Torchwood and anywhere else, he had been Rose's closest confidante, her best friend. While most of Torchwood thought Rose to be arrogant and full of herself at the beginning, Mickey sat with her, talked with her, held her while she cried and could see through her cold façade. Obviously Torchwood's opinion of Rose Tyler had changed; she had earned everybody's respect, but was still very business-like, barely ever laughing and showing those types of emotions. She was the commander, and she behaved that way. Only Mickey once again realised that she was hiding her pain under that coat of coldness, and talked to her the same way he had before the whole parallel universe fiasco. Although Rose's façade from Torchwood dropped when she got home, Mickey had never seen her as carefree before as she was now.

With a smile, he imagined Rose's team's expressions at seeing her like this. Their jaws would probably drop. To her team she was Commander Tyler, not some giggly young woman. Oh, Max would be so shocked, Mickey thought. Max was the main lieutenant in Rose's team. He was a good soldier, but didn't have the best relationship with aliens, as his mother had been killed by a cyberman and the rest of his family had been converted. Mickey personally though he was rather full of himself, not to mention rather possessive. He had originally thought Rose to be snobby, spoilt and dumb, like most of Torchwood, but he had had it bad for her ever since she had defeated the Sycorax. They had even been out a few times, though Rose refused to call it dating. Mickey knew that max was still persisting, but he had no chance. Especially now that the Doctor was here.

Torchwood would see a whole new side to the Vitex heiress now that the love of her life was here. The carefree, funny, joking and giggly side that had been suppressed for almost 6 years.

***DW***

They found a small hotel near the beach eventually, and stayed there for the next few hours. The Doctor and Rose simply sat together, the Doctor's arms around her, sometimes talking, but mostly they were just still, enjoying the feeling of finally being close to each other after such long time. Jackie was on the phone with Pete, recounting her adventure and assuring him that everyone was fine. Mickey called Leslie, his girlfriend, to tell her he was okay, and that he looked forward to seeing her soon. He also talked to his gran, apologising for going away again, but assuring her that he would make her a lovely cup of tea once he got back home.

The atmosphere in the hotel was just like in the Tyler mansion. But it had become just that much happier.

.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. I simply edit the script and make subtle changes when no one is looking. Call it whatever you like, I call it awesomeness. **

The zeppelin came after 8 hours. Jackie immediately ran on board and was greeted by her Yorkshire terrier, who she had renamed Roxy, because Rose had insisted and so as not to cause confusion between her daughter and the dog. The Doctor did his best to hide the laughter when he saw the terrier, but failed miserably and a sort of snorting sound escaped him. Rose simply rolled her eyes.

Jackie immediately went to her room to rest, and Mickey went into the kitchen, because killing Daleks and saving every single universe in existence had made him slightly hungry. Rose simply went to her room on the zeppelin, and dragged the Doctor with her. Together they lay down on the bed, facing each other. It was time to talk.

"What was it like?" Rose asked quietly. "After Canary Warf?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. Obviously they needed to talk about this, but right now he just wanted to savour the feeling of having Rose at his side again. He looked into her deep brown eyes and sighed. "Torture" he whispered after a while. "When you fell…I was ready to throw myself in after you. And then, I felt you. On the other side of the wall. And I wanted so very badly to smash the wall and make my way to you."

Rose nodded in understanding. "So did I. And I felt you as well. It was so hard, going to work for Torchwood after. I walked past that wall every day, and every day I cried."

The Doctor gently stroked her cheek with his thumb, tracing circles. "I just…shut down for a few days. Completely. Wouldn't drink, eat, sleep, nothing. And then I worked on a way to get to you. I tried everything, but I couldn't. And after I got the message through, I wanted to shut down again. But Donna didn't let me." He smiled slightly at the memory.

Rose looked surprised for a second. "Was that the thing with the Racnoss?" she asked.

The Doctor stared. "How do you know about that?"

"Donna turned left." Rose said. "She got trapped in that universe, and she wasn't there to stop you with the Racnoss." Rose took a deep breath. "You died." She said shakily. "The dimension cannon worked and I appeared just as they were taking your body away."

The Doctor was shocked. But then it made sense. If Donna hadn't stopped him, he would probably have let himself drown with the Racnoss. "I'm sorry Rose" he managed to say.

Rose shook her head. "Anyway, go on".

"Well, Donna appeared in her wedding dress in the TARDIS. And yeah, she saved me from the Racnoss. I asked her to travel with me after that. I was just so lonely. And I wasn't really thinking when I said it. But she refused, because I scared her. But she told me to find someone."

"And you found Martha" Rose said.

The Doctor smiled. "Yes. She was brilliant. But she wasn't you. But she did save my life by giving me CPR. So I promised her one trip. But I made it very clear she wasn't replacing you."

Rose gasped. "You talked about me then?"

"Of course" the Doctor said softly. I couldn't stand not talking about you."

Rose smiled.

"Martha fell in love with me" the Doctor admitted. "I didn't realise, I suppose I just kept comparing her to you. I stopped saying one more trip after a while, but I put her through so much, that she chose to leave. And I met Donna again after that. I needed her I suppose. Someone to cheer me up, keep me in line. She was like the sister I've always wanted."

Rose grinned. She had liked Donna a lot too.

"But whether I coped?" the Doctor said. "No. Barely. There were so many times when I almost gave up. I would see your smile everywhere, hear your laugh, and imagine you in any given situation. But you were never there. "

Rose listened, heartbroken. She felt a tear making its way down her cheek; the Doctor had suffered just as much a she had.

The Doctor saw the tear making its way down Rose's face and wiped it away with his thumb. "What about you?" he asked softly. Rose took a deep breath.

"As bad as you" she said after a while. "I was a mess for the first few days, juts sat around and cried. I had to clean up after a few days, because Pete wanted to announce he had another daughter. And then I was covered by media all the time. It was such a nuisance.

I started working at Torchwood after a few weeks, because I had to _do_ something, anything. And I hoped that working at Torchwood I could get back to you somehow. Then of course we went to Norway. I needed a few days to recover from that, and then I went back to Torchwood."

She looked at the Doctor, needing assurance that he was there. The Doctor extended an arm and pulled her against him, burrowing his face in her neck, breathing her in. He needed her.

After a while Rose withdrew from the hug, but was perfectly content to stay in his arms. "They hated me at Torchwood, at first" she continued. "I decided to keep my emotions and feelings covered up, because if I let them slip I would break down. I took care of a lot alien attacks, but all by myself, Torchwood didn't notice. They just thought I was a spoiled brat that sat in her office all day. I can't blame them obviously, because I never talked to them unless I needed to. Not to mention that I didn't tell them anything about myself either, so they didn't know I was hurting. And they didn't know I had worked with aliens before, so when I came in and got the best job, they took it as offence. Only Mickey and Jake got it.

Anyway, the sycorax attacked. It was the same thing as in our universe. Everything was in chaos. But I knew what was going on and I could translate, and I fixed it. But like you, I would have died, saving the world. But I got respect at Torchwood after that. I got my own team, with some good agents and soldiers. I got to be friends with them and told them about you. But I never smiled and laughed with them properly, and they barely ever called me Rose…always Commander Tyler."

She took a deep breath and looked at the Doctor, gauging his reaction. He was looking down at her, still stroking her cheek, his eyes full of sadness.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I am so, so sorry."

"Doctor it wasn't your fault. I would still much rather have the memories of what we did, than not have you at all". The way Rose spoke was so sincere that the Doctor kissed her, gently at first, but then steadily with more passion. Rose responded, and they lost track of all time for a while, until Rose finally pulled away for breath. They lay there, foreheads on each other, gasping slightly. Rose grinned.

"We should have done this a long time ago".

The Doctor laughed, and kissed her forehead.

"I was wondering" she began tentatively.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Whether you want to work with us?" Rose replied, almost scared of what the answer would be.

The Doctor looked slightly sceptical.

"You don't have to, of course!" Rose said quickly. "But it's changed, I swear it has. It's nothing like Yvonne Hartman's Torchwood, honestly. And you're an expert."

The Doctor considered this. Rose bit her lip. "Okay" the Doctor agreed suddenly, sounding quite cheerful. "I suppose I could help, being the genius and everything."

Rose laughed. "Ego hasn't changed" she mumbled into his chest.

"Oi!" The Doctor cried. "Rose Tyler, that was _rude_! That must be where I get it from!"

"Cheeky" Rose said against his lips. The Doctor simply smiled.

"But Doctor" Rose said, pulling away. She needed to tell him.

"I'm different at Torchwood."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, not getting it.

"Like I was telling you before, I changed. If the people who work with me could see me now, they would probably faint from shock. I'm not carefree, and I don't laugh. I'm stern, and business like and cold."

"That's not you" the Doctor whispered gently.

Rose nodded. "I know. All that pain, I used it as a mask….or like a shield, I suppose. But, I think, now that you'll be here, I won't be like that anymore."

The Doctor pulled Rose closer to him. "You're perfect exactly the way you are right now" he whispered to her. Then he paused. "Well", he said, "I guess you're still _very_ jeopardy friendly…and still have that very annoying tendency to wander off" he screwed up his nose in mock anger "but other than that you're perfect".

"I'll see that as a compliment" Rose laughed, and snuggled against him, yawning.

"You're tired" the Doctor said. "You should sleep".

Rose nodded, but refused to close her eyes. "I'm scared you'll disappear" she admitted. "I'll close my eyes, and realise this is all a dream".

"I'm not going anywhere" The Doctor whispered soothingly. "Sleep Rose. You're exhausted. Pink and yellow humans need their rest."

"And superior and know- it -all Time Lords don't?" Rose retorted, smiling.

"Not as much"

"Right."

The Doctor smiled. He had missed the banter. He kissed her head, and pulled her to his chest as Rose closed her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Right-o chapter 3:**

Rose woke up about 4 hours later, and it took her a moment to remember where she was. She wanted to sit up, but an arm around her waist prevented her from doing so. She blinked, and realised she was curled up against the Doctor. She smiled and sighed contentedly, it hadn't been a dream after all.

"Morning sleepy head!" a cheerful voice sounded.

Rose rolled over and looked at the Doctor. He was dressed only in his shirt, with his jacket slung over the bedpost. He had a huge smile on his face, his eyes glowed and his hair was a huge mess. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Rose smiled.

"Hello" she said. Her eyes widened slightly when he leaned down to kiss her briefly, but she quickly realised that she could quickly get used to that sort of behaviour.

"How did my favourite pink and yellow human sleep?" he asked her.

Rose sighed contentedly. "Quite well, thank you. How did my sexy Time Lord sleep?"

The Doctor eyes widened. _What_ did Rose just call him?

Sexy, huh? A step up from foxy then.

The Time Lord in question smiled a huge smile. "I didn't sleep" he admitted. "I watched you sleep instead. And I thought a lot."

He saw a look of apprehension cross Rose's face and frowned.

"Do you have any regrets?" asked Rose softly. She knew the Doctor loved her, but she also knew that she was depriving him of a lot. He couldn't travel time and space anymore, or at least not for another 12 years or so, until the TARDIS was fit for travel. No, if he was staying with her, it would mean he would have to be in one place all the time, and worse he would have to do domestic. Rose was suddenly wondering whether or not the Doctor had jumped into this too quickly, and was now having second thoughts. He couldn't go back, obviously, the walls between realities had closed, but she didn't want him to live a life which he hated.

The Doctor on the other hand couldn't really comprehend the question at the beginning. Surely he hadn't heard right. Was Rose honestly asking whether or not he had _regrets_? He loved Rose, completely and utterly, and the years without her had been pure torture. He knew that living with Rose would be domestic, he would need a job, a car, he would have to _cook_, but he was doing it all with Rose which made everything completely worth it.

"Regrets?" he asked the shock in his voice evident. Rose didn't look at him, her eyes were downcast. But she nodded. "Just cos' you have to be in one place all the time. And…you don't do domestic, you hate domestic. But now you're stuck with it and-"

"Rose." The Doctor said. "Rose, look at me".

She raised her head and looked right into his eyes, trying to stop her heart from beating too wildly when he gently brushed his finger over her lips. "I don't regret this" he said gently. "At all. I know that I'm bad at being in one place all the time. And I know I've always been very prejudiced and opposed to domestic things. But Rose, you're worth it. Completely worth it, I promise."

Rose looked into his eyes and saw that he meant every word, and breathed a sigh of relief. He kissed her eyelids. "The years without you were torture." He admitted softly.

"Now!" he suddenly said in a much more cheerful tone. "Your mum said you should get prepared, we're landing in about half an hour, and she says that there might be some media coverage."

Rose groaned. "Oh please no" she muttered to herself.

"Not happy to be in the public eye?" the Doctor asked jokingly.

Rose shook her head. "You have no idea" she said. "They follow me everywhere. I go food shopping and the next thing you know, there's a headline in the local tabloid saying I prefer apples and bananas over any other food."

"Bananas are good, filled with potassium you know. Excellent fruit." the Doctor interrupted with a grin.

Rose rolled her eyes. "And it's not like I've done anything to deserve all the attention. I am not some film or pop star; I only get covered because my 'dad' has a lot of money and a large house. Somehow that must make people interested in me. I mean what's the logic in that? "

"Well, you work for Torchwood and save the earth on regular basis. That's a reason for the media to cover you." The Doctor said rather proudly.

Rose shrugged. "They don't really show their interest in my work. Torchwood is fairly public in this world, so I'm covered a lot more if there's been some sort of alien attack, but they focus on my dressing habits, make up habits and my dating habits a lot more than on what I do for a living."

Rose couldn't miss the slight look of displeasure that seemed to pass the Doctor's face when the word 'dating' crossed her lips.

"I never did ask" he said in a light tone. "Did you have any boyfriends?"

Rose was not fooled. The Doctor's tone was too carefree and light, and the slight tension in his eyes was evident. Rose knew he had wanted her to move to move on and have a fantastic life, but that the one selfish side to him wanted her to wait for him. She understood that.

"No" she reassured him. "That's why the media were so obsessive about the whole issue. They couldn't understand why I didn't have a boyfriend. Although they did speculate about Mickey for a while, seeing he was with me so much."

The Doctor nodded, feeling guiltily happy. He had wanted Rose to move on, of course, but he was happy that she had loved him too much not to. Even though he still felt horrible for all the pain he had caused her.

Rose sighed and sat up, deciding to get dressed. "They're going to have a field day when they see you" she said, not sure whether or not she should be happy or frustrated about that particular fact.

The Doctor simply smiled lazily. Being labelled as Rose's boyfriend suited him just fine. He watched as Rose got dressed, brushed her hair and put her make up on. She really was beautiful.

Finally Rose sighed. "Okay. Guess we should go and have something quick for breakfast before we land. We only have 15 minutes".

The Doctor nodded and offered Rose his hand. She smiled. "Are you going to do something about that hair?" she asked teasingly, tongue poking out between her teeth.

The Doctor looked affronted. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"It's pretty messy. But you can leave it that way…looks quite good on you. Only mum will assume, from the way it looks like at least that…" she trailed off, waiting for the Doctor to catch her meaning.

He stared at her. "wait a second…she'll think we-? That we umm…?"

Rose nodded.

"Damn it!" the Doctor cursed. She is going to slap the daylights out of me! I wonder if regeneration can be caused by a slap?" he said to himself. And then in a louder and slightly more hysteric voice: "Rose, please, I _need _a hairbrush now!"

Rose could only laugh as he dragged her hairbrush through his hair desperately.

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for the reviews!**

As it turned out, there was very little media as everyone descended from the zeppelin. Rose was very pleased at this, because it meant she didn't have to smile and pose all the time. Jackie, albeit, was a little disappointed; she quite liked the glamorous life she led. Mickey honestly didn't care. Just as they were climbing into the black limousine that had been sent to pick them up, a reporter from Gossip Television ran around and snapped several pictures of Rose and the Doctor holding hands.

"That'll be tomorrows headline!" Jackie remarked with a small smile.

Only the Doctor heard Rose's quiet, sarcastic "yay". He smiled at her.

It only took about half an hour in the car to the mansion, and Jackie kept everyone occupied with chatter, Roxy sitting on her lap. Mickey was on his phone discussing something with Jake, while the Doctor simply had his arm around Rose, who was sitting quietly. The second they pulled up Pete ran up to greet them and swept Rose into a huge hug.

"I'm so happy you came back Rose!" he told her, extremely relieved. It had been difficult to bond with Rose at first, seeing he had rejected her when she first visited the universe. He had been nice to her, and had showered her with gifts, expensive clothes, cars and so on. He gave her the same things he would have given his daughter. It had been clear that Rose barely cared for these gifts, she was still mourning. However, after a while their relationship had become very special, and Rose had finally stopped calling him Pete and had called him dad instead. Seeing Rose so determined to leave this universe had made Pete very unhappy, although he completely understood Rose's reasons for going. To see her back home, with the love of her life and radiating happiness thrilled Pete. He kissed her on the cheek and then went over to happily shake the Doctor's hand. "It's good to see you again Doctor" he said. "Thank you for coming back with her and keeping her safe".

The Doctor grinned at Pete. "You're welcome he said. I`m just happy she found me ".

***DW***

It was established that the Doctor would not have his own room, he would share with Rose. The Doctor avoided Jackie's eyes at this; he did not want to get slapped. However, if he would have looked up, he would have realised that Jackie was actually smiling. Rose led him up some stairs, turned left, turned right, went up more stairs, crossed a long room, opened a door, turned right several times and finally turned left again and came to a simple, nondescript door. The Doctor was marvelling at Pete's mansion, it reminded him of the TARDIS slightly; it seemed bigger on the inside, not to mention that it was confusing to find your way around the place.

Rose, as it turned out, did not just have a simple bedroom, but a whole apartment to herself, consisting of a small living room, a modern kitchen, a large bathroom, several closets and a bedroom.

"Pete had it made right after the Cybermen attacked. Thought of it as a guest suite, but then he gave it to me, figuring I would want the space."

"Why didn't you just move into a flat?"

"Mum wouldn't let me. She wanted me there to be able to comfort me, and she…."

Rose trailed of, wondering whether she should tell the Doctor this.

"What?" he asked softly, his brown eyes searching hers. He trailed a finger absentmindedly across her chin.

"She was wondering whether I would hurt myself" Rose admitted quietly.

The Doctor almost grabbed her shoulders. "Did you?" he asked, and his tone came out sounding almost harsh. But Rose shook her head. "No, no of course not."

The Doctor nodded and noticed he was still gripping her shoulders. "Sorry" he said softly, and took her hand. Rose nodded understandingly. "It's okay. My reaction to you having done anything stupid would have been the same".

The Doctor plonked himself down on Rose's bed and held his arms out invitingly. She sat down on his lap without hesitation. He was about to ask her a question, when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Rose called and Jackie came in with Pete, who was carrying Tony. Rose immediately sprang up with a shout of glee and engulfed Tony in a huge hug, tickling him. He giggled, and burrowed his head in her neck. "I missed you, little guy" she whispered to her brother happily.

Tony finally let go of Rose and turned his wide eyes on the Doctor. Rose smiled. "Tony, remember the Doctor I told you about?"

"The one that chases aliens and saves the world?" Tony asked. Rose nodded, a smile on her face.

Tony turned his wide, brown eyes on the Doctor. "This is the Doctor" Rose told the small boy.

The Doctor grinned. "Hello there!"

Tony smiled shyly, the Doctor's grin was infectious. "Hi" he said, not quite looking at the Doctor's face. "Is it true you really met a werewolf once?" he asked suddenly, interested.

The Doctor's face broke out in an even wider smile. "Yup!" he said. "The werewolf was after the queen you see. Your sister was terribly brave."

Rose rolled her eyes, but smiled softly as she watched Tony edge away from her and towards the Doctor, until, eventually, he was sitting on his lap, with the Doctor telling him all about their adventure with Queen Victoria.

Jackie and Pete were also watching the scene, extremely happy. They were all one big happy family now.

Eventually Rose stood up, not wanting to disturb the Doctor and Tony and walked over to her parents. "I should call my team at Torchwood" she told Pete. "And I should go back to work soon as well and-"

"Oh no, you don't!" Jackie immediately interrupted her. Seeing her daughter was about to protest, she hastily added: "You've been at Torchwood day and night for what? Almost two years now? You've had to pass through so many universes, save so many people, witness so much death and destruction and you need a break!"

Pete nodded. "London can live without you for another few days. First you need some _proper_ rest. I know that you don't need as much as you did before, seeing what the huon energy did to your body, but you are going to go and sleep for at least one night, not your usual 5 hours. You just saved the universe, and you need rest. Not to mention you need to recover from that entire trauma."

"Not to mention you have the Doctor now" Jackie supplied, pointing to him and Tony and rolling her eyes. The Doctor was currently explaining his sonic screwdriver to Tony, and showing him his psychic paper. She sighed. "That's going to be on Tony's Christmas wish list" she muttered. "Anyway" she said, turning back to Rose. "You two should spend some time together. _Outside_ the bedroom" she told Rose pointedly. Rose blushed slightly. "Not to mention he needs new clothes, and you might finally want to decorate this place a bit" she told Rose, pointing to the walls. Rose had left them mostly bare; she had been in no mood to decorate when she was so unhappy. But now she had the Doctor, and could finally do something. She smiled at the idea of painting the walls with the Doctor.

"Got it?" Jackie asked. Rose nodded, still smiling slightly.

"Good. Now I reckon you two should come down for breakfast, you barely ate anything on the way here". With that she plucked Tony off the Doctor's lap ("But mummy, he was telling me why the TARDIS is bigger on the inside!" came the loud protest) and went down to ask the cook prepare a light lunch.

Rose grinned at the Doctor. "Come on!" First domestic activity of the day: Breakfast with my family!" The Doctor grinned, surprised that this did not scare him as much as it should have, and took Rose's hand".

"Let's go." He agreed.

**Please R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! **

Rose spent her whole day in bed, curled up in the Doctor's arms. She slept a lot, but sometimes she would just lie there and talk. The Doctor was perfectly content to simply hold Rose, but, seeing he hadn't slept for a few days himself and had just saved the universe another time around, he also drifted off for a while. When he woke up the sun was shining outside. Rose was already awake.

Rose smiled as she watched the Doctor sleep. It was so rare. With his chest rising slightly, his breath slow and his eyelashes resting on his cheeks, he looked utterly adorable. He rolled over, groaning slightly and rubbed his eyes, opening them and immediately closing them again as he saw the sunlight filter through the window. "Morning!" Rose greeted cheerfully, surprised that she had managed to sleep through most of the night. She generally only needed 5 hours now.

The Doctor smiled lazily at her. "Hello, sleepyhead."

"I could say the same to you!" Rose scoffed playfully. "You've been asleep half the night.

The Doctor frowned slightly. Half the night? Strange, he generally only needed 4 hours of sleep every few days. Then again, holding Rose, he was comfortable, and it was easy to drift off to sleep. Not to mention that he hadn't had any nightmares. Generally, the Doctor had nightmares about Gallifrey, but often rose had been in them too. But then she had disappeared, falling, and the Doctor could do nothing except scream. This night however, had been peaceful, and the best sleep he had had in a long time.

Rose sat up. "Guess what we are going to do today?" she asked him. The Doctor considered and smiled at their reversed roles. Most of the time it would be him asking that question on board the TARDIS. But this time _he _was the one on the new adventure, the domestic one. And he honestly had no idea. He shook his head and waited for Rose to answer the question. "Shopping!" she said gleefully. The Doctor stared at her with a horrified expression. "Shopping?" he managed to croak.

Rose nodded enthusiastically. "You need new clothes" she told him.

"I have this suit and a spare one" the doctor protested. "I can wear one while I'll sonic the other clean! See? Easy!"

Rose sighed. "Still" she reasoned. You need more clothes. But, if you want to keep the suits we can ask our stylist, Candice, to make you some."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "You have a stylist".

Rose shrugged indifferently. "Yeah…wasn't my idea, it was the old Jackie's, obviously. But mum likes having a stylist, seeing she has to attend all those parties and things. Sometimes having her comes in handy too, when I have an appearance at some party or whatever. If you want to give her your two suits, she can take measurements and replicate them as many times as you want."

The Doctor nodded, that sounded like a good plan. "I can try sonicing the pockets so they are bigger on the inside as well, I suppose" he said. "But if I give her both my suits I won't have anything to wear…"

"Which is why we need to go shopping!" Rose filled in, knowing she had won. The Doctor simply groaned. "Plus, I need to pick up some groceries, and I was thinking, we should decorate this place a bit."

The Doctor looked around. It was true, the place didn't really show that any person properly lived here. He raised his eyebrows in question.

"After the whole universe thing, decorating was the last thing on my mind…but now, I can think about it".

"Okay" the Doctor shrugged. "But on one condition. We _have_ to paint at least one thing TARDIS blue."

Rose grinned. "Got it!"

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Jackie smiled as she watched Gossip TV. She had just randomly switched on the television, trying to find Sesame Street for Tony, when Gossip TV and her annoying host, Angelina Chan had come on with a new gossip lead story.

"- And it seems that our favourite heiress, Rose Tyler, daughter of the vitex millionaire Pete Tyler, has found herself a new beau! She has now been sighted several times with a tall, dark haired man, coming back from a holiday in Norway and out and about in London. The pair has been seen visiting several of the heiress' favourite restaurants together and have more recently been sighted on a shopping trip, holding hands and appearing rather intimate with each other.

No public announcement about the couple has yet been made, but from the various sightings it seems that wedding bells might soon be ringing in the air for the couple. Stay tuned at Gossip TV for more info!"

Jackie sighed and switched channels. That had not taken them long. Of course, Rose finally having a boyfriend would excite the media beyond belief. Rose had been on the cover of every magazine cover when she had come to Pete's world, and had been labelled as the gorgeous, sexy and rich heiress, and London's favourite daughter. Media followed her all the time, but often speculated about her relationships. Seeing that Rose was clever, rich and beautiful, they expected her to go through boys like clothes or at least have some sort of serious relationship with someone. They had thought her to be together with Mickey for a while, seeing she spent so much time with him. She and Mickey also held hands often; it was a simple comfort gesture for them, a way for them to show that they were there for each other. However, whenever the media had cornered Rose and Jackie about it, they had both said that Mickey was simply a very, very close friend of the family and Rose's best friend. The media had lost interest in that story after a little while.

But seeing Rose with a handsome, mysterious stranger, who she already appeared extremely intimate with, was extremely exciting. Papers had already been made for the Doctor, who had decided to call himself John Noble Smith (after Donna) and decided to be 33 years of age from London. The Doctor had already agreed to work at Torchwood, at least for some time. Jackie was glad that Pete had taken these precautions minutes after the Doctor and Rose arrived, because the media would want to find out who this stranger was. They were prepared in any case.

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"How do you feel about jeans?" Rose asked, as they browsed the men's clothing section.

"Ahhh" the Doctor said. 2Interesting clothing article actually. Originated in America in 1950, but were generally only for cowboys. But suddenly they hit the American market and BOOM, the whole world started wearing them. Of course, they never did say exactly who gave everyone the idea to put them on the market." He grinned mischievously at her.

"They just remember a blue police box, and decided that that was the colour that would suit these particular pants the most."

"Uh huh, very funny." Rose said teasingly. "But seriously, what do you think of getting some jeans for yourself?"

The Doctor screwed up his nose and shook his head…he couldn't really imagine himself in jeans. Rose sighed. "Try some on" she told him encouragingly. He stared at her. "Ro-ose!" he said pleadingly.

"Come on Doctor!" Rose gave him her signature smile. "No harm in trying them on!"

"Yeah, no harm except loss of dignity" the Doctor grumbled under his breath.

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Eventually the doctor and Rose left the store, chatting happily. Rose had loved jeans on the Doctor, and had persuaded him to buy them, assuring him he wouldn't actually have to wear them every day, but until Candice finished his suits. The Doctor had brightened up at this. They had also brought some food, namely the ingredients for making pizza and banana fritters. And jam, obviously. The Doctor had persuaded her, telling her that he had asked in the kitchen and that she only had about 5 jars at home. Rose rolled her eyes, but laughed and allowed the Doctor to put 6 jars into her trolley. Last but not least they had gone shopping in the decorating department, namely for paint. To the Doctor's delight, they had found some TARDIS blue and had both unanimously decided to paint the bedroom door blue. The doctor also got the idea to go into Torchwood and develop all the pictures Rose and he had ever taken on their travels, and get them developed in a larger size, so that they could cover a wall with them. Rose loved the idea.

After their shopping trip had finished, and Rose thanked god that the media had left them mostly alone (several cameras had flashed that morning when they had been eating breakfast in her favourite coffee shop and when they had been grocery shopping) but so far no reporters had run up to them to question the couple. Several of the shop assistants had smiled at Rose (they knew Rose fairly well, because she favoured these particular stores.) and had said that they were happy to see her back and exchanged words with the Doctor as well.

Rose and the Doctor had gone to another small café, so they could have a small lunch (Rose was starving) and discuss their plans for the day.

"Now that we are done with shopping, I would like to take Tony out or something" Rose suggested. "He thought I wasn't coming back, and I've really missed him, so maybe we could take him to the park or something."

The Doctor voiced his agreement. He liked Rose's little brother a lot.

"Good, I can finish explaining to him the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside" he said happily. Rose laughed.

"Anyway, I have to meet my Torchwood team first" Rose said. I haven't called them yet, but they know from Pete that I'm back. I have to talk to them and make sure everything is all right, before I go back to work next week."

The Doctor nodded, already seeing the small change in Rose when she talked about her team. The way she spoke was already slightly clipped and business-like and she sat up straighter. The Doctor didn't really like these changes, this was not his Rose. Of course it was only to be expected and largely his fault. Rose had explained how she had let he pain evolve into a mask or shield around her. He got it, he had used the same defence mechanism after the Time War, hiding his previous happy side under grumpiness and sarcasm.

"I will be really quick, so you can either head back home, or wait for me in the Torchwood foyer. That way, we can talk to Jane, the receptionist, about getting you an office and everything. "

The Doctor nodded. Is Torchwood at Canary Warf like the other one?"

Rose nodded. "We can take the tube".

The Doctor smiled. "What, no limousine from Pete to pick you up?"

Rose screwed her nose up in distaste. "I hate all that stuff". She admitted, and brushed crumbs off her lap and stood up, taking the Doctor's hand. "Time to meet Torchwood!"

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	7. Chapter 7

Rose sighed slightly as she entered the familiar building. After getting rid of Lumic's Cyberemen, Torchwood thrived and had gotten a huge amount of money from the government, in order to defend London and England against alien threats. Pete Tyler was the Director of Torchwood, and one of the most powerful men in the country. He had the most authority at Torchwood, but was still a kind and gentle man. Even so, many people always spoke to him with respect. Mickey Smith and Jake Simmonds were his second in command, or at least indirectly. It was clear he held them in very high regard. And then of course there was Rose Tyler. Pete Tyler's long lost daughter and defender of the earth. She was a mystery, but she had respect from all of Torchwood, after nearly sacrificing herself to save the earth. Like her father she was kind and friendly, but she was also very firm and business-like and did not tolerate stupidity, silliness and unfairness. Some people said she snapped a lot, but often she had a reason to.

But now Rose Tyler had changed.

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Rose entered Torchwood with the Doctor, still hand in hand, though the Doctor immediately noticed that she stood straighter and that her usual smile was not on her face.

They went through the double doors and straight to reception. Although Rose had mentioned that she knew the receptionist, they did not smile at each other, at least not until Rose had flashed her identification. The second Jane saw that she grinned and reached over to shake Rose's hand. "It's good to see you again Commander" she voiced. Rose smiled.

"And you" she replied. "Listen, could you please summon my team to my office. I need to talk to them. Oh, and this here" she said proudly, tugging the Doctor closer to her, "_this_ is the Doctor!"

The Doctor grinned. "Hello" he said, smiling his charming smile. Rose could see that Jane was already smitten.

Jane gaped. "_The_ Doctor?" She took in Rose's happy face, her shining eyes, the way she stood, and the way her hand was entwined with his. She looked so happy, carefree and comfortable. The aura of pain and coldness that had been around her like a cloud in the recent years was suddenly gone, there was no shadow following her. She decided that from the way Rose stood and smiled, this really must be the Doctor. She smiled and extended a hand, already slightly smitten. This Doctor was extremely good looking.

She was about to engage him in conversation when a speaker on her ear sounded. She smiled over to Rose. "Commander Tyler, your team is awaiting you in your office."

Rose smiled. "Thank you Jane. Listen, could you please keep him occupied for a few minutes, perhaps see if there is an office near mine, next to mine preferably, also near the lab in sector E? I already approved this with the Director, he will be working with Torchwood as long as he sees fit. Thank you." With a smile at Jane and an ever bigger one at the Doctor, she went into one of the large lifts.

Jane smiled at Doctor. "Let's see about this office then" she said.

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Rose sighed as the lift brought her up to one of the building's higher floors. Two days ago she had been reunited with the Doctor and all her friends, saving her original universe and loving it, thinking she was going to stay there. Now she was back in her usual lift, heading towards her blank office, meeting her team. She stood still as the lift scanned her, identifying her as one of the Torchwood personnel. She heard the ding and exited the lift and turned the corner to sector E and pushed open the door to her office. She was immediately greeted by Max.

"Commander!" he said, his tone full of respect but also with happiness. Rose nodded. Lieutenant Max Rogers was a good soldier, the best on her team. However, he was also slightly proud and standoffish, but very determined. He had a rather negative attitude towards aliens; he didn't like them very much. But he was always there for Rose when she needed him.

She smiled at him and went over to shake his hand. They had hugged before, but that was when they were alone. At Torchwood Rose was known to be all business.

"I trust your mission went well?" he asked.

Rose nodded. "The mission was a complete success, the universes are saved and the darkness gone."

"Did you manage to determine what was causing it?"

"A species called the Daleks claimed responsibility, yes. But they have been taken care of. The darkness is no longer a threat."

"Then may I be the first to congratulate on a job well done" Max said, almost standoffishly, puffing out his chest proudly.

"Thank you Max".

Rose then turned to the other members of her team. She extended a hand to Eddie Jones, a calm, level headed and very clever soldier, who had nothing against aliens. He was good in the field, but was also very good in the lab, often scanning and explaining the various results to Rose. She liked him a lot. He was also a lieutenant (she had given him that promotion personally), but never flaunted it, unlike Max, who knew exactly how much power he had.

Next up was Olivia de Felicia. Olivia was also a good soldier, namely because she was very confident. She was extremely pretty, and knew it. She went through boys like clothes, and Rose had often thought about introducing her to Jack. She was flirty and could seduce someone quicker than one could blink. However, she knew how to make people listen to her, and she was extremely intelligent.

Olivia shook Rose's hand with a smile. The relationship between them was slightly complicated. Olivia was very much her own person and although she respected Rose as her Commander, she didn't like following orders very much. However, she had to, in order to keep her job. Besides her job payed well and gave her plenty of dates.

Last on the team was Heidi Jenson. Heidi was of Swiss decent on her father's side and English on her mother's. She was slightly shy and very bookish, but also very calm and sweet. She was caring and a very good listener, and extremely accepting. She had no issue with aliens and was Rose's best friend. She worked hard, and although she was good in the field, she specialised in lab and tech, sorting through alien artefacts and analysing alien samples. Heidi knew more about Rose than any other team member, and she was the only team member to ever see Rose drop her façade. She was also the only one that knew some details about Rose's travels with the Doctor, and knew that Rose loved him. She was always there for Rose to talk to and often offered Rose advice (like telling her the fact that Max had a crush on her). Rose couldn't show preferential treatment to Heidi on missions, but she was so happy seeing her that she hugged her briefly.

She then stepped back. "It's good to see all of you again. I won't be coming back to work for another few days, I'm on leave for now. I just wanted to check that you were all okay, and that no problems were encountered during missions."

She looked at the room and Max stepped forward, having seen himself as the head of the team in Rose's absence.

"No problems were encountered." He reported. "We had a successful mission with a crashed spaceship, which was taken care of".

Rose turned to Eddie, wondering what Max meant with taken care of. With his dislike to aliens, it was hard to tell.

"Taken care of how?" She ignored Max's slightly angry look at her having asked Eddie to explain the details.

"Our translation crew managed to be able to translate the language. We were not able to exactly determine where the aliens came from, but we understood that it was an accidental landing and that they were meant to land on Pluto. They apologised and no harm was done."

"We took photos of the aliens, and maybe you could identify them when you come in commander" Olivia said, a slight drawl in her voice. Rose nodded.

"Well done team. I will debrief you when I come in next week".

Her team nodded and Rose exited, motioning for Heidi to come with her.

Heidi nodded and followed her outside. The second the two of them were alone Heidi hugged her, again, but this hug was longer.

Rose smiled at her friend. "I have to dash now, but come over in the evening tomorrow please" Rose said. Heidi grinned and nodded.

"Rose" she called after her as Rose walked down the corridor. "Did you find him? Did you find the Doctor?"

Rose's gigantic grin was all the confirmation she needed. She couldn't wait to find out what had happened.

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	8. Chapter 8

Rose and the Doctor exited Torchwood hand in hand. Jane had managed to find the Doctor and office next to Rose's and the Doctor would start at Torchwood the same day as Rose. Rose was explaining procedure to him.

"I and Pete should talk about whether or not it is a good idea to say you're alien. Obviously, they know you exist, I've told them about you, and they know we travelled together and met aliens…I think they got the impression we were freelancers" Rose smiled.

The Doctor smiled as well, remembering his comment to Lance when he met Donna.

"But Torchwood does have an automatic scanning system when you step into the lifts, to make sure you're registered as an employee. So maybe it might be better to tell them."

"I don't mind" the Doctor said, taking in the way Rose talked. He decided to get her back to her old self with a joke. "Need to explain some way that I'm so much cleverer than the rest of them".

It did the trick, Rose laughed.

"We'll just have to make sure they don't go crazy scanning you. I can ask Dr. Owen harper to do it, I'm friends with him.

Now" she said, and her tone was suddenly much lighter and cheekier. "Ready to take Tony to the park?"

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Tony and the Doctor had quickly gotten to be excellent friends. The Doctor liked Tony, he was clever, funny and open minded (though he imagined that growing up in Rose's family one would _have _to be open minded and ready to accept anything.) Not to mention it was nice to have someone he could explain things to who didn't roll their eyes or fall asleep.

As for Rose, she was thrilled for the friendship growing between the two of them. Tony was always very reluctant to accept new people into his life, he was rather shy. Although he had grown up hearing stories about the Doctor, Rose had been anxious about the fact that Tony might still see him as a stranger. But, much to her relief, exactly the opposite had happened.

Unfortunately the media had finally ambushed them at the park (of all places!), taking several pictures of the Doctor playing with Tony and the like. Rose had finally had to ask them to leave, but not before they had all brandished their microphones in her face and questioned her about this mysterious stranger. Rose had simply ignored them. That had cut their visit to the park short, but amazingly, Tony hadn't minded, he was hanging on to the Doctor's hand while the Doctor told him about the Slitheen.

As soon as they got home, Rose dragged the Doctor up to her (their) bedroom, wanting him for herself. Jackie called up to them that dinner would be ready in half an hour, and that the whole family would be eating together this evening. This didn't surprise Rose; she knew her mum finally wanted to have dinner as a family.

She flopped down on her bed, tired. It was strange, she didn't usually get tired like this, but she supposed it was from all the excitement.

"So how was your Torchwood team?" The Doctor asked, interested.

Rose smiled. "They were fine. I have 4 people in my team." She said smiling. "One of them, Maximilian, is a really good soldier. But he's a bit…standoffish, I suppose." She wrinkled her nose slightly. "He's clever though" she continued. "But he's determined, and a good listener. But he doesn't have the best relationship with aliens. His whole family was killed by the Cybermen, and that hit him pretty hard."

The Doctor nodded, wondering if it was a good idea to have someone who disliked aliens as a field agent. But Rose still seemed to hold him in pretty high esteem, so the Doctor said nothing.

"Then there's Eddie, who is also a lieutenant, but he is quite different from Max. He is also a good field agent, but he is quiet and really level headed. He likes aliens though, he enjoys the knowledge that there is so much more out there than he knows barely anything about. He likes field work a lot, but he is really good at lab as well. I like him a lot."

"Where did you meet him?" The Doctor asked with interest.

"He heard of Torchwood and wanted to join up after the cybermen attacked. He saw the cybermen attacks as dangerous, and wanted to learn to defend earth against them. But then he met other aliens, and decided they were cool. So he got a PhD in chemistry and physics, as well as human biology, so that he could understand aliens better. He was so good that I went over to see him personally and asked him to join my team."

"Ahhh, someone who understands all those sciences!" the Doctor said smiling. "Maybe he won't fall asleep when I explain alien biology like my companion here!" he said and tickled Rose, who giggled and begged him to stop. The Doctor grinned wickedly.

"Then there's Olivia" Rose said, clutching her sides. "She's good, but a bit flirtatious sometimes. But still a good agent. And lastly there's Heidi, and she's my best friend apart from Jake and Mickey. She is really sweet and caring and she specialises in the tech department but she also works wonders in lab. In fact" Rose continued, "she's coming over tomorrow night. You can meet her then."

"Look forward to it" the Doctor grinned. "Oh and-"

He was cut off from Rose's bedroom phone ringing. Rose picked it up. "Hey mum, yeah, we're coming". The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"The mansion is big" Rose explained. "So mum calls me on a special landline thingy…but never mind, let's go eat."

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A few years ago, when he was still in his ninth incarnation, the Doctor would have freaked at the fact that he would be having dinner with his companion's family, talking about his life and upcoming job, about grocery shopping and interior design. However, right now, that's exactly what the Doctor was doing. He was sitting next to Rose in the dining room of the Tyler mansion, discussing working for UNIT in the parallel universe, the perks and the troubles the job caused. Jackie interrupted midway throughout their conversation, asking Rose about how they were going to decorate her apartment. The Doctor saw the affectionate way Jackie rolled her eyes when she heard that they were going to paint things TARDIS blue and ask an interior designer to make them several TARDIS blue pillows.

Pete claimed his attention after that, asking what exactly he wanted to do at Torchwood.

"A bit of everything really" The Doctor said, crunching on several carrots, having nicked them from Rose.

Pete nodded. "Yes, but is there a particular field that you specialise in?"

The Doctor thought about that. "Well, I suppose I am good at identifying aliens and I generally know what they want and so on. But then I am good at alien biology as well, which means I can work in the lab. And then I can also identify alien tech."

Pete looked almost amused. "Yeah, I see what you meant now. Maybe we should just give you the term Commander as well, seeing you will be working with the aliens themselves, but also specialise in all other areas. Up until now, Rose is the only commander we have, because only she can somehow fulfil these criteria, with field work, as well as translation and identification. Commander is the highest rank we have at Torchwood, aside from Director. The other field agents are either commissioners or lieutenants. There are ranks under those of course, but commissioners and lieutenants are on Rose's team, so on a Commander's team. Of course, a majority of agents working at Torchwood aren't field agents, but they all have clearance levels. 1 is the highest, and they have all level of clearance, unless the Director and in some rare cases the Commander decides otherwise. Clearance level 5 is the lowest level of clearance, and those are generally the secretaries and assistants of the low ranked agents."

The Doctor nodded. "I should talk it over with Rose first though" he said. She's the only commander, as you said, and maybe she wants to maintain that position."

Pete smiled. "That's very thoughtful of you" he said. "Go ahead and ask Rose, although I'm sure she'll be fine with it."

Rose turned around to face her beloved and her father. "What will I be fine with?" she asked with a smile on her face. "Don't think I didn't notice you stealing my carrots!" she told the Doctor, trying to sound stern, but instead managing a brilliant smile. The two of them looked at each other for a second, affection and love shining in their eyes, before they snapped out of it. "You were saying?" Rose prompted.

Pete looked slightly hesitant, but went ahead anyway. "We were wondering whether or not we ought to give the Doctor the rank Commander as well."

Rose looked thoughtful but grinned at the idea, and nodded her head vigorously. "Course" she said, convinced. "The Doctor knows so much more than I do, and he has so much more experience. He should definitely get the highest rank." She grinned. "Maybe you want to pull mine down to commissioner" she teased, tongue poking out between her teeth.

Pete laughed, but told her no, he would certainly _not _do that. She was already so extremely clever, she completely deserved her title.

"Torchwood's reaction's gonna be interesting" Rose said with a slight smile. It'll be Rose Tyler, snobby heiress all over again." The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and took Rose's hand under the table.

"Rose told you, I assume?" Pete asked with a smile, this couple was completely besotted with each other. Pete doubted they had any secrets. Rose confirmed this by nodding.

"Rose Tyler's new love interest goes to Torchwood, and automatically gets the rank Commander. Like Rose Tyler, he suddenly appears and is covered by the media." Oh, Torchwood will have a field day", Rose laughed.

"Oh come on, all of you, enough talk about Torchwood." Jackie interrupted, frowning good naturedly. "Haven't you two been up to anything else?"

"We went to the park with Tony" the Doctor offered, with his mouth full of peas and lamb.

"Yes, I gathered" Jackie said. "Tony was telling me all about the slitheen an about your psychic paper."

The Doctor saw that Jackie looked rather bemused and hastily swallowed. "Sorry?" he said, making the apology sound like a question. Jackie simply laughed.

"Oh shut up you twat, it's fine! I'm glad you two are getting along." She smiled, thrilled to see her family so very happy. She had her Pete, an alternative one, but one who still had the same strengths, qualities and flaws she had loved in the old Pete. They not only had Rose, but their own child, who had a great future ahead of him. And Rose, Rose was no longer depressed and unhappy, hard and cold, saddened by the loss and separation from the love of her love of her life. The Doctor was finally here, completing her family. Perhaps she would even have grandchildren soon, Jackie mused happily.

"Oh, and I asked Heidi to come over tomorrow morning!" Rose hastily added as she stuffed the rest of the ice cream into her mouth and grabbed the Doctor's hand. "That okay?" she asked her parents.

"Of course sweetheart" Jackie said, nodding. "Do you want us to prepare dinner, or will you be having dinner in your room?"

"My room, I think" Rose said. "But thank you for the offer. Anyway, I'm going up." She smiled. "Good night." She went to kiss her parents and little brother on the cheek.

"Goodnight" they both told the two, and Rose and the Doctor went up to their room.

Jackie smirked at Pete. "Wonder how much sleep they'll actually be getting tonight?" Pete laughed.

"Just promise you won't kill him afterwards Jacks".

Jackie simply grinned wickedly.

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The second they got up to Rose's room and shut and locked the door, the Doctor couldn't bear it anymore and kissed Rose. Sexual tension had been around them all day, and all day they had held it in, but now he couldn't anymore. He needed Rose now.

Rose kissed the Doctor back just as desperately and fiercely, she had been unable to deal with the tension between them either. She gasped slightly as his hands went around her waist, supporting her before she fell from the dizziness she was suddenly getting. He ran his tongue over her lips, and she let him into her mouth, moaning as he did so, and putting her arm around his neck and one into his hair. The Doctor tore himself away for a few seconds to whisper into Rose's ear.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" he whispered to her. He wanted to, he so _desperately_ _wanted _to, but he wasn't going to force her into this.

She nodded. "Yes" she breathed. "Completely ready".

It was all the confirmation the Doctor needed. His lips instantly went back to hers, and he grasped her thighs, lifting her up as she locked her ankles around his back.

Jackie had been right. They weren't going to get very much sleep at all.

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**Laura xxx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you very, very much for all your lovely reviews!**

When Rose and the Doctor came down to breakfast the next morning, none of them could keep the smiles off each other's faces. They were both so happy. Jackie and Pete both noticed this, but kept quiet, though they sent each other discreet looks over their cups of coffee. Tony just wondered why everyone had such peculiar looks on their faces.

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Heidi visited that night, extremely curious. Heidi wasn't generally the intrusive type, she worked with the information she got. This time however, she was the one who wanted to ask questions. She had heard about this mysterious Doctor so much, and couldn't wait to meet him. Not to mention that Heidi had never ever seen that sparkle Rose had had in her eyes yesterday. She knew Rose was very, very happy.

She reached the Tyler mansion and reached out to ring the bell. Instead of being greeted by a servant like usual, she was instead greeted by her boss and Rose's father. She smiled shyly and immediately got invited in and embraced by Jackie. She waved to Tony who grinned toothily in return.

"Rose is in her apartment." Jackie informed her with a smile. Heidi thanked her and went up, almost getting lost on the way. As she approached Rose's room, she heard laughter and shouts. She smiled. She hadn't heard Rose laugh in a long time. She knocked on the door tentatively.

Rose was there straightaway, almost as if she had been poised by the door, and swept her friend in to a hug.

"Thank you for coming!" she said grinning.

Heidi smiled at her friend. Rose was dressed simply, in old jeans and a hoodie, her blond hair was tied up in a messy bun and her smile was a mile wide. Her eyes sparkled and she stood in a relaxed posture.

Rose motioned for Heidi to come in and shut the door behind her. Heidi looked around in surprise. She had visited Rose's apartment once before, and it had been bare then, with barely any indication that anyone lived there at all. It had reminded Heidi a bit of a hotel room, with bare walls and simple furniture, barely any personal trinkets or pictures, nothing.

But now the apartment was almost unrecognisable. The kitchen was messy, a bright tablecloth on the table and pictures on the walls. The living room had white painted walls, although the door leading to Rose's bedroom was painted dark blue. The sofa had cushions on it, made out of a special denim type material with the same colour as the door. Photos were pinned up on the corkboard, a vase stood on the coffee table, and a shelf was filled with books, drawings and odd trinkets that looked alien. It looked like a home.

What interested Heidi the most was the blue suited handsome man currently lounging on Rose's sofa with a smudge of flour on his clothes. He looked relaxed and completely at home. He stood up when they made eye contact, a huge grin (matching Rose's) on his face. His hair stood up in every direction, he had huge brown eyes, and he was very skinny and looked to be about thirty five, maybe a little younger. He walked over, confident but not at all intimidating and reached out his hand to shake hers. Heidi noticed that his other hand immediately reached out to hold Rose's.

"Hello" he said, in a cheerful voice. "I'm the Doctor!"

Heidi already felt at ease with this man, and she was generally a very shy person. She shook his hand. "I'm Heidi" she introduced herself. "I work with Rose at Torchwood".

The Doctor grinned. "Yeah, Rose told me a lot about you".

"Are you hungry?" Rose asked. "We made pizza."

"It would have been on the table by now if this one hadn't gotten distracted" The Doctor said playfully.

"Yeah, and it would have been ready an hour ago if this one hadn't started adding jam on his!" Rose retorted, shoving the Doctor playfully. The Doctor simply laughed.

"Point is, it's in the oven and will be ready in five minutes." The Doctor told Heidi.

She was currently marvelling how very much in sync these two were. She loved seeing Rose like this, joking and playful. She barely knew that this side to her existed.

It was going to be a fun evening.

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6 days had passed and the next day would be Rose's first day back to work and the Doctor's first at Torchwood. Rose and Pete had decided that they would tell Torchwood that the Doctor was alien; it would make things a lot easier. The Doctor was fine with this idea, and rather excited about going to work at Torchwood with Rose.

The two of them decided to enjoy their last day. They had had a full day, shopping, painting things in Rose's apartment (it looked like Rose's whole apartment would be TARDIS blue, not just her bedroom door), painting Tony's room to look like the time vortex (They had both needed long bubble baths after that) and simply walking around London. The media couldn't get enough of the two of them and hadn't gone away until Rose threatened them with a restraining order. The gossip magazines and tabloids would come out the next day and Rose supposed that she would be on the front cover again (the notion didn't excite her very much).

When they got to the mansion it was already dark. Rose had told the Doctor that a curfew existed in Pete's world, because of the unknown darkness and that Torchwood members took turns patrolling the night for Daleks. She made a mental note to tell Pete to lift the curfew restrictions first thing tomorrow, as they were unnecessary now.

Although both she and the Doctor were tired, Tony (who was somehow still up) begged and implored his sister to read him a bedtime story and the Doctor said he would go for a short walk around the mansion. He needed to clear his head a bit from all the chaos in the last few days. Rose consented, making him promise to be back in 20 minutes.

So the Doctor grabbed his new coat (it looked exactly like his old one, Candice had picked it out for him) and went outside. The mansion was fairly close to the city centre, but instead he walked towards the park and wooded areas, relishing the quiet. After walking for about ten minutes, he suddenly realised he was lost. He was shocked. He was a Time Lord, he had superior senses, and he _never_ got lost. Maybe being in such a domestic situation with Rose had made him more human. He sighed. Maybe it was the parallel universe. He wasn't from here, and there seemed to be differences too-yes that would explain his sudden loss of direction. He turned left, trying to trace his path back to the mansion, but ended up only more lost.

He groaned in agitation, wishing he had taken the mobile Rose had brought him two days ago. He turned around and was startled by approaching headlights. He squinted. He couldn't see the vehicle very well, all he could tell was that the car was very big. A range rover or something like that. He expected the car to just drive by, but instead it stooped and three people got out.

One of them had a calm and business-like look on his face and carried something that looked suspiciously like a probe or a scanner. The second male had a slight smirk on his face, with short, spiky brown hair. He carried a small gun in his belt and a larger one which looked like a stunner in the other. The last person who stepped out was a woman in her in her mid or late twenties. She was tall and slender, with long black hair tied back in a ponytail and eyes framed with dark makeup. She wasn't carrying anything, although the Doctor decided a handbag would most definitely suit her. The three strangers looked at him for a second, sizing him up. The Doctor had no idea who they were, but decided that his normal, cheerful approach was best. He grinned at them.

"Hello!" he said brightly. "Listen I am a wee bit lost, in the wrong universe so to speak. A little out of my depth. "

The calm looking man frowned. "It's past curfew mate. You shouldn't be out here."

"Yeah, well like I said I'm lost…"

The other man walked forward. "Ed, I think he might be one of _them. _She warned us that they might try to blend in."

"He looks human" the woman objected, a slight drawl in her voice.

The spiky haired man rolled his eyes. "Liv, you've seen _how_ many aliens? She told us they sometimes _look_ like humans!"

"Calm down Max!" Ed said. He turned to the Doctor. "This is protocol" he told him and slowly scanned him. Judging from the way his eyes widened, the Doctor supposed the scanner was identifying him as non- human. He sighed slightly.

"I knew it!" Max barked out when he saw the results of the scan. "That's it, you're coming with us!" Before the Doctor had time to protest, Max had grabbed him and twisted his arms, so that the Doctor was pressed face first again the cool, black surface of the car. "Don't try anything" Max snarled and shoved him into the car. "You're coming with us to Torchwood."

Thank you for reading and please review. The next chapter is already written, so the update time depends enirely on how many reviews I get.

Thank you

Laura xxx


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for all your lovely reviews, they were much appreciated! :DDDD**

"_That's it, you're coming with us!" Before the Doctor had time to protest, Max had grabbed him and twisted his arms, so that the Doctor was pressed face first again the cool, black surface of the car. "Don't try anything" Max snarled and shoved him into the car. "You're coming with us to Torchwood." _

Ahhh, it all made sense now, the Doctor thought. These must have been the patrols Rose had warned him about. He was somewhat relived that this was Torchwood, and that these people weren't some crazy alien hunters. He sighed slightly. He wondered how he was going to get out of this one.

The second they got to Torchwood they ran several tests on him, but couldn't identify the species. The Doctor wasn't surprised about this fact, he knew there were no Time Lords in this universe, as he couldn't feel them telepathically.

Once the basic tests were done, he was shoved in a reinforced glass cell next to a Hoix. Max took great delight in telling him that his commander had caught the Hoix single handed, saving their Torchwood medic, Owen Harper, from it one night. The Doctor smiled at this. About halfway through the scans and test he had realised that this team was Rose's team, the way they spoke about their Commander gave it away. The Doctor would have happily told them that he was Rose's "boyfriend" and would get the title commander tomorrow (especially Max. He couldn't understand what Rose saw in the gun happy and aggressive man) but decided not to, simply for seeing the shock on their faces tomorrow.

He spent about half an hour in the cell, being taunted by Max. Eddie had gone away to make a call and returned to tell them that both the Director and the Commander were coming to identify the alien.

.

.

.

Rose had just finished reading Tony his bed time story when her phone rang. She checked her watch and gasped with surprise. More than half an hour had passed. But if that much time had passed and the Doctor wasn't here then that meant-

Her phone rang again, cutting off her train of thought. She looked at the caller ID and realised it was Eddie. But Eddie had no need to call; it was still her day off. She grinned slightly to herself, putting two and two together. Who is the jeopardy friendly one now? She thought to herself as she pressed the receive call button on her phone. Eddie's voice came through, calm, but with a twinge of uncertainty.

"Commander" he greeted. "Sorry to disturb you now, but we have a bit of a situation here".

Rose grinned to herself. If the Doctor was involved then it was certainly something like that. When she spoke however, none of her amusement came through her voice, instead her tone was clipped and business like. For the first time in almost 6 years however, Rose wasn't using this type of voice as a shield, instead she was using it for her own amusement.

"It must be a rather overwhelming one if you felt the need to call me and not the Director". She replied, playing around with Eddie just a bit.

"The Director is on his way as well. He was in a meeting, but assured us he would come down as soon as possible. "

"I see." Rose said simply. "What exactly is happening?"

"We found an alien life form, about 20 minutes away from your house near the forest. The alien was walking around after curfew, and so we brought him to Torchwood. Unfortunately, we cannot identify the species, and were hoping you could help us out in that regard."

Rose nodded, trying to keep the smile off her face. "Could you describe the alien?"

"He has a humanoid appearance and could easily be mistaken for a human. The tests we conducted showed very high brain activity, a cool body temperature and a double heartbeat. The interesting thing was that we picked up some traces of certain human DNA, which we haven't gotten around to analysing yet, on his body."

"You ran tests on him?" Rose cried before she could stop herself. It made her angry to think of her team (especially Max) poking and prodding the Doctor. She wished that Heidi hadn't chosen to take exactly this day off; she could have immediately identified the Doctor and saved him all this trouble.

Eddie sounded confused, but also slightly apologetic.

"I'm sorry commander. We thought of it as protocol, and we were trying to identify him. And now we have the resulting human DNA to identify as well, although we might ask Heidi to do that tomorrow. You might want to take a look at it as well, Commander." Rose nodded to herself, blushing slightly. She could guess that _her_ DNA was probably all over his body. She bit back a sigh of relief that they hadn't analysed it yet. "Can you tell me more details about his appearance and his clothes? All these things could help identify him."

Eddie didn't miss a beat; although he thought asking about clothes was a bit strange. Of course his Commander knew so much more about aliens than he did, so he pushed the thought aside.

"He is wearing a blue suit, has dark brown hair, standing up in all directions, he is skinny but rather tall."

"I see" said Rose, now completely certain that this was the Doctor. "Where is he now?"

"We put him in an examination cell".

This didn't please Rose at all. She silently fumed to herself, and decided to get to Torchwood as quickly as she could in order to release him. She sighed to herself and took a deep breath.

"Do not examine him anymore under any circumstances. From the things you've told me I already have a fairly good idea of what this species could be, and I know that they are rather easily offended but very clever. The alien is to be kept there until I come, but he will not be questioned, harassed or examined _under any circumstances_. And for god's sake, please keep Max away from him."

Eddie nodded in understanding. Max had been taunting the Doctor the whole time, but he always had a reply at hand. It had actually almost been amusing seeing Max put down so quickly, especially since Max could generally be rather witty (often in a sarcastic and sometimes negative way. Not to mention that Max thought aliens were stupid-though Eddie certainly couldn't blame him after the whole cybermen incident-and this alien seemed a lot cleverer.)

With a sigh Eddie hung up the phone and returned to the main area where the Doctor currently was. The Doctor and Max were at it again, and Olivia was eyeing the alien up appreciatively. Eddie sighed. Typical Olivia-he wondered if she wouldn't have him seduced by tonight. If the commander let him go that is.

The second Max heard approaching footsteps, he quickly turned around. "Where were you?" he asked Eddie, sounding almost angry.

Eddie held up his Bluetooth phone device. "Calling the Commander" he answered calmly. She said she's going to be here soon. I suppose she will come down at the same time as the Director."

"Why didn't you tell me you were calling the Commander?" Max demanded. Eddie tried not to roll his eyes. Max had a huge crush on Rose and sometimes showed off to others that he was so close to her (he was never too specific of course, he didn't want to make Rose angry, but he took great delight in telling people that he had gone to a café with her and such), and he saw himself as the automatic leader of the team when Rose was absent. Max was a good agent, but sometimes Eddie truly thought that he could do without the snobbish and standoffish behaviour.

"I saw no reason to Max" Eddie said calmly. "You were busy talking with the alien, and you didn't even notice I was gone". He knew Max was about to say something and so he hastily continued. "Like I said the Commander is coming over, and she has asked us not to agitate or test him anymore. She already has an idea of what species he is and will know what to do."

The Doctor tried very hard not to laugh while the conversation took place. The only reason he still hadn't said anything (and he had wanted, very badly, when he was talking to Max. In fact, right now he also very much wanted to punch Max in the face. He honestly couldn't understand what Rose saw in him.) was because he couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when Rose came in.

"Max however decided to go and talk about Rose some more. He turned to the Doctor. "You see-I told you our Commander was brilliant. All she needs is a basic description of the alien and she already knows the species. I can't wait what she does when she sees you. She'll know how to shut up that smart mouth of yours".

"_Max_" both Olivia and Eddie said sharply. Eddie mostly because Rose had told him to keep Max away from the alien and not taunt him and Olivia because she thought this alien was extremely sexy and was there for his defence.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You seem extremely fond of your commander Max. The way you speak about her I would almost say you were a couple."

Olivia snorted. "They are not" she informed the Doctor, smirking. "Although Max most definitely wants to be a couple. But he's been trying for five years, and no luck so far".

"Shut up Liv!" Max snapped. "That's none of your business! And you-"he said to the Doctor. "You can wipe that stupid, smug look off your face before I do it for you!"

"Calm down Max!" Eddie interrupted again.

"Yeah, not so hard to notice why your beloved Commander hasn't taken such a huge fancy to you if you speak like that Max" the Doctor said calmly. Max whirled around. "Shut it!" he hissed, just as the doors slid open. Everyone turned around as Rose entered the room, a cold expression on her face.

**I'm glad you are still enjoying this story; I am having huge fun writing it. The next chapter should be posted in the next few days, possibly even tomorrow.**

**Please review guys! I want at least 42 reviews. Thank youuuuuuuu :DD**

**Laura xxx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for the reviews. I was so touched by the number of people who alerted, favourite and reviewed, that I finished the chapter this morning. Thank you all once again!**

**Also, I am sorry if this is not the reaction you wanted Rose to have. I know some of you put requests in about how you wanted Rose to react, but I already had it written out. Hope you enjoy it anyways xxx**

Rose marched into Torchwood in her usual style-strict, business-like, a cold expression on her face and no hint of a smile anywhere. Her posture was straight and not at all carefree. It was with this demeanour that she marched down to the holding cells.

She studied her team's expressions as she marched into the cell area. Max looked…well fairly pissed off, really, but his face showed self-importance the second she entered the room. Eddie looked slightly frustrated, and was glaring at Max and Olivia simply nodded at her and then turned right back around to the Doctor. Rose frowned. She knew Olivia was a huge flirt, but somehow she had never thought about the possibility of her trying to hook up with the Doctor. But it was entirely plausible. Well, Rose couldn't have that. The Doctor was hers and in this case she was very unwilling to share.

"Commander" Max greeted, puffing out his chest slightly. Rose nodded at him. Eddie stepped forward.

"The alien is back there" he told her, gesturing to the end of the corridor. Rose nodded and walked forward until she was right in front of the Doctor's cell. There she stood and surveyed him, her eyes narrowing slightly. She looked him up and down, a slight frown on her face.

Max could only watch with glee as Rose looked at the alien. He had no doubt that she would set the bugger straight and that he would never return to earth once she was finished with him. He decided to help her along a little. "The alien has been rude, aggressive and impertinent." Max voiced loudly, smirking at the Doctor. "Furthermore he has insulte-"

"Thank you Max" Rose said, trying to refrain from rolling her eyes. Max looked rather put out.

"Do you recognise the species?" Eddie asked her with interest.

Rose nodded and looked at the Doctor, who could only stare back in shock. Rose had told him she was different at Torchwood, but he had never imagined that she would behave like this to him. So far she hadn't even spoken to him, she just stared at him, almost as if she was criticising him. Her face showed no recognition. Her gaze was cold, there was no smile on her face, and her eyes didn't twinkle. They were just cold and black.

He wondered whether or not she was angry at him, or whether or not she had been drugged. The way she behaved was so horribly strange and wrong, it made him want to jump in front of her and ask her what was the hell was going on and whether or not she felt all right.

Rose saw the shock in the Doctor's eyes and it didn't surprise her. She turned back to her team. "Well done team" she told them.

To Eddie she replied. "He is a Time Lord" She smirked very slightly. "And they can be rather hard to pin down".

Eddie had no idea what a Time lord was but looked at the alien in front of him with new interest. He was surprised at the emotions he suddenly saw in his eyes. They held shock, pain, fear and something that looked like anger. But mostly they held hurt and confusion. Eddie wondered why. Was he scared of the Commander?

Rose continued talking to her team. "So" she said, now half facing the Doctor. "You managed to catch yourself a two hearted, rather sexy and very kissable Time Lord, with absolutely great hair and a _huge_ ego. A Time Lord who has the cheek to call _me_ jeopardy friendly, and has told me not to wander off...how many times?"

Max, who had been smiling the whole time, thrilled at seeing the shock and fear in the alien's eyes when facing the Commander he had seemingly ridiculed just a few minutes ago, was suddenly very shocked and certain he had heard wrong. _What_ had Rose just said?

Eddie and Olivia's faces were also utterly shocked. They had _never _heard Rose talk like this. And Rose was smiling. Really smiling, all pain in her eyes suddenly gone.

As for the Doctor, he was thrilled. He realised the game Rose had been playing now, and had almost had to laugh. Especially when he saw Max's face.

"To many times to count!" he told Rose joyfully, answering her question about wandering off. Rose grinned back at him.

"I thought you went for a walk around the mansion?" she asked. "How did you end up so far away that the patrols found you?"

"I got lost" the Doctor admitted. "Sorry".

"Not your fault" Rose said, still smiling. Realising he was still in his cell, she immediately punched in the code to let him out.

Max, meanwhile, was seething. "How the hell do you know each other?" he spat, jealousy and fury building up inside of him. He couldn't believe this.

Rose frowned at him, not caring for his tone. "Calm down!" she told him, feeling like snapping herself. She had a feeling that Max had probably taunted the Doctor a lot.

She also realised she had some explaining to do and opened her mouth. But, at just that moment the cell door slid open, and she ran to hug the Doctor, thrilled that she could finally touch him. He laughed and returned the embrace, kissing her head gently, which only incensed Max more. His fingers went right down to his gun and made to take it out. Rose saw this immediately.

"_Don't even think about it Lieutenant Rogers!" _she snapped, her voice like ice. The Doctor turned to stand beside Rose and grasped her hand. Shooting the Doctor wouldn't help Max much anyway.

Just then the sector doors slid open and Pete Tyler stepped into the room, taking in the scene before him, several different expressions crossing his face. When he stepped in his expression was grim and ready, prepared to deal with an illegal alien. Slowly however, his expression changed to surprised and finally to amused. The second he saw Max's hand on his gun, his expression once again turned cold and grim. "Put the gun away Lieutenant Rogers!" he boomed, echoing Rose's statement. "I expect to see you in my office tomorrow so that you can explain your behaviour!"

Max stared at the ground and fumed silently, imagining the smirk probably growing on the alien's face. He had only been trying to protect Rose. Clearly the alien must be brainwashing, manipulating or controlling her in some way, otherwise Rose would not be behaving like this. This was not the rose he knew.

Max at least expected the Director to take proper control of the situation but to his utter shock the Director simply smiled and walked over to the Doctor and Rose. "How on earth did this happen?" he asked, gesturing round him. Rose simply grinned.

"We had a full day and needed a break. I read Tony a bedtime story and he went for a little walk around the mansion."

"But I got a little lost" the Doctor added with a slight smile, hearing Rose quietly muttering "Superior Time Lord senses" under her breath.

Pete nodded, already having guessed how the rest of the situation had played out. He turned around and saw Rose's team's astounded and shocked faces. "I gather you have some explaining to do" he told her. "Unless you want me to do it?"

Rose shook her head. "It's fine. I'll explain it to my team now, and we'll have the conference tomorrow."

Pete agreed. "Tell Jacks I'm going to be a while. I have some paperwork to finish."

The Doctor and Rose nodded and Pete departed, shaking his head in amusement. Rose turned back to her team and steadily held each member's gaze for a second so that she had their full attention but also their trust. Olivia looked surprised, Eddie looked shocked and Max looked angry.

"This alien you brought in is a good…friend of mine" she started, deciding that boyfriend was an insufficient term to describe hers and the Doctor's relationship. "In fact this here is the _Doctor_."

There was a shocked silence. Eddie was the first to react. "_Your_ Doctor?" he asked his voice full of disbelief and shock. "The one from the other universe, who you travelled with and who stopped the cybermen in this world? The one you always talk about?" He stopped himself saying the one you love.

Rose nodded.

"You didn't ever _care_ to _mention_ that your big, lifesaving hero was an alien?" Max almost shouted, not caring that his tone lacked respect.

Rose gaze was suddenly cold. "I hardly thought it mattered" she countered.

Max was about to open his mouth again to retort, but Rose's expression silenced him. "He's living with me and my family" she went on. "And he will be working with us here at Torchwood from tomorrow on".

"He's going to work here?" both Olivia and Max cried. Well, Max sputtered, utterly unable to believe what he was hearing, while Olivia sounded extremely pleased. Rose didn't want to think of why, although she already had a good idea.

"Yes" she said calmly, smiling at the reaction her team was about to have.

"In fact, say hello to your new Commander".

**Thank you for reading! I hope you were pleased with this reaction. I kinda wanted Rose to play around a bit, and be a bit cheeky. Hope you all liked it. **

**Please review! If I get 57 reviews, then I will post the next chapter (already written) tomorrow.**

**Thank you, you guys are the best!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you so much or all your fantastic reviews! I'm thrilled that so many of you are still enjoying this story and are sticking with it. It really means a lot to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

The looks on her team's faces was priceless. Catching a witty, handsome and extremely clever alien who spoke English was one thing, finding out that their Commander loved him and respected him was another, and the fact that this alien that they had captured, tested, scanned, put in a cell (and in Max's case taunted) was their Commander, was simply too much for them. Eddie's generally calm face was now utterly shocked, as if he was having huge trouble believing everything. Max's face was a mixture of anger, dislike and disbelief. He was in a sticky situation. He hated the alien, now identified as the Doctor, a man with whom he was now competing for Rose's affections, but who was now also the commander, and had the rank above him. Max now officially had to follow the Doctor's and respect him as he respected Rose currently. Olivia was also completely shocked, but right now her mind was more on seducing this Doctor, he was hot. She wasn't exactly sure how he and Rose felt about each other, but she hoped to god that they weren't romantically involved. If so, then it would be a lot harder to get to him and seeing that Rose had a huge amount of power at Torchwood, it might possibly even get her fired.

Rose leant closer to the Doctor. "We're going to introduce you at the conference tomorrow" she told him quietly, not wanting to disrupt her team's thoughts. "Everyone with clearance level 3 and over will be there".

"As you say _Commander_" the Doctor whispered into Rose's ear, his voice a little lower than usual.

Rose tried in vain to suppress the little shiver she felt as the Doctor's breath ghosted over her skin. Max also noticed the shiver, but he saw it as further proof that Rose was somehow being controlled by the alien. He decided to watch the two of them for a few days, and then do something. Of course, he could do something _now_, but he was already in a sticky situation with the Director. He could bring up the issue tomorrow with the Director, he supposed.

"You`re getting the rank tomorrow, don't ridicule it!" Rose said back playfully to the Doctor, once she had somewhat regained her composure. The Doctor simply smiled.

"Anyway" she told her team. "I will see you all tomorrow." She smiled at each of them and then said goodbye, ignoring their still amazed looks and exiting the underground sector and going back to reception and out to the car park. The Doctor whistled as he saw her car, a shiny black Bentley Continental. "I thought you hated all this stuff" he remarked.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, but this was a gift from Pete, so I figured, why not? Anyway, it's not like I ride this car at full speed, and its comfortable and practical, so…" she unlocked it and opened the driver's side. Once both of them were finally on the highway, she let out a long breath.

"Sorry about that whole mess" she said to the Doctor, sounding apologetic.

He shook his head. "Rose don't worry. They're just your Torchwood team, and they are doing their jobs…Although I can't say that I've taken a huge fancy to Max".

Rose nodded understandingly. "Did he taunt you a lot?" she asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "Well…I suppose it was bearable…I am cleverer than him after all….I still wanted to punch him in the face though".

"He's a good agent" Rose said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, wanting to voice his doubts about him but be tactful at the same time. "Are you sure it's a good idea to have someone who clearly despises alien that much working in the field?"

Rose frowned slightly, seeing the Doctor's point, but disagreeing.

"The Cybermen fiasco hit him really hard" she said. "I've been teaching him that most aliens aren't really like that, and that the Cybermen were Lumic's fault, who was a human…but it's difficult for him. He lost his whole family, and his girlfriend. That's why he can be so aggressive and bitter."

"Is that why you like him?" the Doctor asked, the question slipping out before he could stop it. "Sorry" he added hastily.

Rose took a deep breath for a moment. She wasn't angry at the Doctor for saying that, he could understand what losing people was like better than anyone, but she had a funny feeling that the Doctor might be slightly jealous of Max. Also, Max had made quite a bad first impression, so she could forgive the Doctor…but still. She liked Max.

"Not really" said Rose. "But I do like him a lot. I know he made a horrible first impression on you, but you have to give him a chance."

She saw the Doctor wasn't really convinced at all, so she went on. "Max was already at Torchwood when I came. He was assigned to my team after the Sycorax situation, and…well, he was a lot like me. Grieving. I'd just lost you, and I was in a completely foreign universe and he had lost his whole family. He could understand what I was going through and we became close friends. He was a good person to talk to, and I trust him."

The Doctor nodded, trying to understand. It was after all his fault that Rose had had to go through all that pain.

"Unfortunately, over the months, he fell in love with me…Heidi says it's just a crush, but a crush doesn't last five years. I think he is really disappointed that we aren't a couple…I suppose that's my fault. I showed so much preference for him that it must have encouraged him. But of course the last thing I wanted was someone in love with me…because I still loved you." She smiled affectionately at the Doctor.

"Of course it's horrible for him now, because I am totally different. He thought he knew me, and he did, to an extent, but not like this. He thought we were close and finding out that I am actually completely different on the inside is hard for him. Not to mention that he just found out the person I love is an alien. It hit him hard I guess".

The Doctor smiled slightly. "Yeah, I suppose there is going to be a fair bit of rivalry over a certain gorgeous blonde haired woman at Torchwood right now."

Rose smiled. "Hopefully Max will give up and not do anything stupid like the gun fiasco. But its not exactly going to be much of a rivalry is it?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"You're mine" Rose said simply. "I love you, and I'm not giving you up for anything or anyone."

If they hadn't been on a highway, the Doctor would have kissed the life out of her.

.

.

.

Rose and the Doctor fell asleep the second they got to their room, both exhausted. Both had already been tired before the whole Torchwood mess, but after that and having to explain everything to Jackie (who thought it was absolutely hilarious and laughed her head off) they were finished. Rose didn't even bother to change into her pyjamas, she simply took off her pants, jumper and shirt, and went to sleep in her camisole and knickers (the Doctor had no complaints there). He didn't bother to change fully either, he just put on pyjama pants and left his chest bare, his clothes thrown messily on a chair.

Rose slept deeply, although she had several unusual dreams involving Max and the Doctor. But no nightmares, which was a comfort. The Doctor also slept peacefully, holding Rose in his arms calmed him. He wasn't nervous about the next day (he had faced way worse things) although he wondered how the thing with Max was going to work out. He sighed slightly. He still couldn't really bring himself to like him, although he was extremely grateful he had been there for Rose when she had needed someone to talk to.

He sighed again and closed his eyes, deciding that what had to happen would, and if it involved Max hatching a plan to somehow sabotage him or embarrass him, then he would simply have to take it in stride.

**I know I know, that was short….sorry. I promise the next chapter will be up tomorrow, and if not then definitely Friday. I have a ton of schoolwork that suddenly mounted up and reared its big ugly head. **

**Ohhh, next chappie=press conference and possibly the first Torchwood mission as well.**

**I feel that the chapter quality seems to be degrading, and that the chapters are getting kind of boring? **

**If you have any suggestions then tell me in a review or pm me please. **

**Laura xxx**


	13. Chapter 13

**This chapter turned out completely differently than I planned, and I am really sorry, but there is no conference in this chapter. I could have made the whole chapter longer, but seeing I promised I would update today, I decided to update this without the Torchwood conference. I hope that's okay. Enjoy!**

Rose and the Doctor woke up at about 4 in the morning, completely refreshed. They only needed about 5 hours of sleep, and were perfectly to have a movie marathon (the Doctor wanted to watch Lion Queen-this universe's version of Lion King). So Rose made hot chocolate and they sprawled themselves out on the sofa, cuddling and giggling and simply talking (while Simba sang his heart out). They were roused by Tony coming in at around 6 in the morning, poking his head cautiously around the door. "Why aren't you asleep?" Rose asked her brother affectionately, as he crept onto her lap (which was fine with her, but the Doctor sighed inwardly at the added weight; Rose was already on his lap.)

Tony grinned wickedly. "Ran away from Mummy" he said. Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Why's Mummy up?"

Tony shrugged. "Said she wanted to see the Doctor go to work and laugh at him for being so domestic. But she said I wasn't meant to tell you that". He said seriously, as Rose struggled to hold in her laugh. The Doctor looked affronted, but rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"Whatcha watching?" Tony asked with interest, making himself even more comfortable.

"Disney movies. We have to start getting ready in half an hour and you have to go to kindy, but you can watch with us for a bit."

Tony grinned happily at his sister and watched the movie with them, occasionally singing along. Ten minutes later Jackie burst in.

"Have you seen T-"

She stopped and smiled at the sight before her. Rose had his arms around Rose's waist, and she was sprawled comfortably in his lap. She, in return, held Tony, who was leaning his head against her shoulder. The three of them looked perfectly content and peaceful, watching Disney movies at 6 in the morning. Her barging in the room caused a disturbance and the perfect image was finished. Tony jumped of Rose's lap; and Rose entwined herself from the Doctor.

Tony jumped up and hid behind the Doctor, who laughed and picked the little boy up. Rose grinned, touched by the image of the Doctor holding a little boy on his shoulders. He looked so very much like a father.

"Get down from there mister, It's time for kindergarten" Jackie scolded good naturedly. Tony shook his head. Suddenly Jackie had a thought. "How long has he been here?" She wondered if tony had said specifically what she told him not to say.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Enough to tell me that you couldn't wait to see me go completely domestic" he told Jackie dryly, but there was unconcealed mirth in his eyes. Jackie smiled slightly.

"I told them you told me not to tell anyone" Tony piped up, and Jackie groaned theatrically. Rose laughed and walked over to pick Tony of the Doctor's shoulders.

"We should get ready" she told the Doctor. Jackie took the hint.

"I'll leave you two to it. Pete's leaving at the usual time." She took her son by the hand and exited the room with a smile.

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Breakfast was actually quite fun; there was no tension in the air and no nervousness either. Pete, Jackie Rose and the Doctor joked about aliens and outer space and Tony added the random detail when he felt like it. It was almost disappointing when the meal ended, the atmosphere had been so bright.

Rose however, didn't mind too much that breakfast was over; she was excited about getting back to torchwood with the Doctor. She was somewhat surprised that he seemed excited too, because she had thought that something as domestic as a job wouldn't seem very appealing to him.

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The atmosphere as Pete drove to Torchwood had been the same as at the breakfast table. Pete joked about his job, and about the things for the Doctor to expect. As soon as they parked, they took Pete's private lift up to his office, to retrieve the Doctor's Torchwood pass that he would need. He had already been scanned into the Torchwood security systems, and that only left the conference to cover. Pete, however, needed to see Max in his office first, to talk about yesterday and assure him that the Doctor was no threat, but the opposite. Rose and the Doctor left and decided to stop by the lab and say hello to Heidi.

Heidi greeted them with huge enthusiasm, thrilled to see her two friends. She had heard all about the incident the day before, Eddie had called her and filled her in. She knew that Max was in deep trouble and that the doctor would probably shake up things at Torchwood quite a bit, but couldn't hide the fact that she was extremely excited to work with him. Rose told her that the doctor would also be a Commander, and she wondered whether or not he would have his own team or work with Rose. Either way she couldn't wait.

Her excitement grew as the Doctor wandered over to her shelf and started looking at some alien artefacts, which she had been trying to identify. He picked up a small oval shaped board, which seemed to be made of Styrofoam. When Heidi had tried to pierce through it with a sharp kitchen however, it had been the knife and not the object that had been dented. He had studied it for weeks, and still couldn't figure out what it was.

But the Doctor picked it up with intrigue. "Amazing!" he said as he looked over it, turning it around in his hand.

"You know what it is?" Heidi piped up with interest.

The Doctor nodded confidently. "Of course I do! This is an optical techno field from the planet Cartzua in the J-x565 system of the pod 5 universe. One of their best inventions."

Seeing that both Rose and Heidi had barely understood anything, he sighed. "It's used as a healing instrument" he explained. "Everyone on Cartzua has quite bad constitutions. It's strange, because you would think their bodies would adapt to environmental over thousands of years, and I suppose they are, slowly." He looked up, and realised that Rose was grinning. "Am I rambling again?" he asked her, his voice seemingly innocent.

"Yup!" Rose said simply. The Doctor smiled slightly and continued, trying to narrow as much down as possible.

"But their bodies aren't evolving and adapting quickly enough, which make them prone to all sorts of infections, diseases and disorders. But also fairly common thing that have to do with appearance and eyesight and such. This is a surgical instrument, meant for the population, to correct eyesight…a bit like glasses I suppose. Only in this case it's made up from lots of tiny little computer chips, which start functioning when programmed with a single cell gene or strand of DNA. They are operated into the body, and ensure perfect eyesight for whoever has it."

"What do the people there look like?" Heidi asked. She couldn't help thinking that people must be huge on that planet, if that was what they called a teeny computer chip.

The Doctor smiled at Heidi's question, already guessing what she was thinking.

"The people there are tiny" he said. "Maybe about the size of your arm…they have a basic humanoid appearance, but have huge black eyes and puffy faces. The big eyed soft toy dogs they sell here remind me of them".

"But then how das that chip fit?" Heidi persisted.

"Ah, you see, this isn't a chip; this pod contains about a billion of them. That's why the packaging around it is so secure, they didn't want people stealing them…that could have caused the planets downfall. They can only be opened by a specialised code. This must have somehow fallen through the rift."

Rose nodded. "That's how we found it." She said. The rift was suddenly extremely active and all this random stuff came through. Most of it was assigned to our tech department."

The Doctor nodded and was about to open his mouth again, when Rose interrupted. "Listen, you'll have plenty of time to chat later. Right now, we have a conference to go to."

Heidi nodded. "All of Torchwood is talking about it" she said. "Somehow it got out that Torchwood would get a new commander, and that's major news for absolutely everybody. Even the secretaries are talking about it."

"Typical." Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Wonder how they'll react this time." She opened the door and the three of them walked down the corridor.

"It doesn't matter how they react" The Doctor told Rose quietly. He wasn't worried, but sensed that Rose was starting to get a little nervous. He could feel it, literally. They had bonded that night they had made love for the first time, and her presence was now always at the back of his mind and he could feel faint feelings come through. He understood why Rose was so nervous-not only for him but about her behaviour now. The way she acted at Torchwood was completely different to the way she actually was, and she was worried how people would react when they learned that the Rose Tyler they thought they had known was actually a completely different person inside.

Well however Torchwood reacted, the two of them would get through it. They always did.

**Thank you for reading, please drop a review :DDD**


	14. Chapter 14

**It might be quite helpful to have read or read Rose Tyler at Torchwood before you start this chapter, because this chappie and my previous fic have some very close ties, that are made clear here. Enjoy!**

As Rose, Heidi and the Doctor walked through the halls, the conference room in the main sector was filled with people chattering with excitement. They had no idea who their new Commander was, and they were interested to see how Rose Tyler would react. They all remembered how they had reacted when she had been introduced…

…Flashback…

All of Torchwood had been summoned to the large conference room by the Director. They knew it was about Rose Tyler, and assumed that the Director would want to show his daughter his place of work and possibly offer her a job, but if that was the case, they had no idea what rank she would be getting. They had all been shocked when the young nineteen year old, with no proper qualifications got the title rank of Commander and very angry after, when she showed no emotion. She didn't speak to the various lieutenants or commissioners, she didn't say that she aimed to make Torchwood better and she had none of the charismatic qualities of her father. Instead she simply nodded, her back rigid, and her eyes empty, turned on her heel and walked out of the room. Pete looked sad, and had whispered something to Mickey, who ran out after her.

Rose behaved in her cold, uncommunicative way for a long time and Torchwood's opinion was always very negative- Until the day she single handed saved the earth from an invading race and almost gave up her life to do it. Their opinion of her changed.

…Flashback…

Zarim Mayran moved closer to one of his fellow employees, remembering the day Rose Tyler had been introduced clearly. He was extremely curious.

"I wonder how Commander Tyler will react to this new Commander" he said to Mira. Mira simply smiled and shrugged.

"She is the Director's daughter" she said. "I am sure he would have informed her by now."

"Do you think she agrees with it? It's a big and very important rank after all and one has to have excellent knowledge on aliens to get it."

Mira agreed. "From what I have seen of Commander Tyler, I believe she will try to make sure that the new Commander is up to scratch. I doubt he could possibly be cleverer than her, but he still ought to know a lot…" She trailed off.

Zarim nodded in agreement just as the doors burst open and Pete Tyler walked in with Lieutenant Max Rogers, who had a sour look on his face. Pete had a stern expression but his eyes were twinkling. Talking to Max had been brief; he had simply assured him that the Doctor was not a threat, that he knew the Doctor well, and that he was overjoyed to see Rose so happy. Max had sat through the short lecture and it was clear that he didn't agree, but didn't object.

And so Pete Tyler had left the meeting in a fairly positive mood, ready to introduce the Doctor to Torchwood.

Their eyes were all fixed on him as he entered the room, and he quickly realised that Rose and the Doctor hadn't arrived yet. He nodded at people as he passed making his way over to Eddie, who was standing near the podium looking at a clipboard. He put it away as he saw Pete.

"Director" he greeted. Pete smiled.

"Good morning Lieutenant Jones. I see you're ready?"

Eddie nodded. "I have to say, these readings amaze me." He said, pulling the clipboard forward again.

"It says here that the Doctor is telepathic to some degree, his brain activity reaches beyond limits we would have thought possible, but his appearance is so very human".

Pete Tyler nodded. "He is a spectacular man" he said. "I very much look forward to working with him."

Eddie nodded, knowing that such huge praise from the Director meant that this Doctor was very very good. Eddie had to admit that he looked forward with working with the Doctor as well and very much hoped that he had forgiven them all for that nasty incident yesterday.

Several people had inched closer during their conversation, but none of them could completely understand what the two were saying over all the noise in the room.

At that moment Rose entered, but it went mostly unnoticed as Pete had already climbed the stairs leading to the podium and was addressing the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming. You are here because I wish to introduce a new Commander to Torchwood. This Commander also has excellent knowledge of aliens and I very much look forward to working with him. He will not have his own team yet, instead he will be working very closely with our other Commander and my daughter Rose Tyler."

All this time Rose held the Doctor's hand and was trying to manoeuvre through the crowd, Heidi behind them. Rose let out a long breath as they finally reached Eddie.

"God, that's a lot of people!" she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Morning Eddie" she added, smiling at her fellow team member. Eddie smiled back, loving the changes in his Commander. They surprised him, but pleasantly. He also put forward his hand for the Doctor to shake and the Doctor accepted it with a smile.

"I apologise for that whole fiasco yesterday" he said politely to his new Commander.

The Doctor laughed and shook his head. "It's fine; you were just doing your job. I suppose I should have mentioned Rose earlier but…"

He trailed off, not needing to finish his sentence, Eddie got it and smiled. Pete motioned them to come up. Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand and dragged him up, Eddie following closely behind with his clipboard.

Rose smiled brightly at the sea of faces. She was greeted by very surprised looks, simply because she was smiling and also because she was holding hands with a person they could only assume was their new Commander.

"Good morning" she said in a loud, clear and confident voice. "I wish to introduce you all to your new Commander, Mr John Smith."

The crowd stood still, interested. This new man was totally different to how they imagined the commander to look like. Somehow they had all thought him to look calm and clever, with a strong muscular body and a business like demeanour. This man was grinning enthusiastically, and was extremely skinny and dressed in a brown pinstripe suit.

What shocked everybody the most was his obvious attachment to Rose. The two of them were grinning and holding hands. Several people wondered if this man was only Commander because he was close to Rose, but most of them dismissed the thought, remembering how wrong they had been about their first Commander.

Rose cleared her voice. "In case you haven't noticed, John Smith is an extremely close friend of mine, and many of you have heard about him."

A whisper went through the crowd, Torchwood had never heard of him.

"In fact, this is the Doctor" Rose said proudly and listened to several people gasp in recognition. She smiled, satisfied.

Torchwood was shocked. Everyone at the organisation had at least heard the word once; many heard it almost every day. This mysterious Doctor was the only man Rose really ever talked about. She had apparently learned all she knew from him and had travelled the universe with him. She had not gone into more detail, but enough for Torchwood to speculate that Rose had loved him, though they weren't sure if it was a romantic or platonic love.

Of course, the Doctor was trapped in another universe. Everyone with clearance level 1 and 2 who had signed the secrecy agreement knew that Rose was from another universe, and that the Doctor was too. And that meant that the Doctor had come back with her.

Rose cleared her throat, and immediately the room was once again silent. "I believe that many of you are under the impression that the Doctor is human. "She began. "However, this is not the case." She ignored the gasps and mutterings but instead stepped back and beckoned to Eddie, who came forward with his clipboard.

"The Doctor is a Time Lord" he began. "The only one left in this universe. He has two hearts, a respitory bypass system, and an increased amount of brain activity. He is also telepathic to a degree."

Rose nodded and stepped forward. "The Doctor fully deserves the rank Commander" she said again. "I learnt from him, and I don't even know a fraction of what he knows. He is an expert on anything and everything alien, can speak over two hundred languages, identify most alien tech, work in the lab but is also excellent in the field."

"I very much look forward to working with him" Eddie added.

Rose nodded again. "Feel free to ask me or the Director any questions" she said. "We are prepared to take full responsibility." With that she stepped of the podium, ready to face and answer everybody's questions. She sighed to herself slightly. It was going to be a long day, but completely worth it.

**Thank you for reading and please review!**

**Oh, and sorry if everybody was a bit OOC in this chapter. Writers block.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I had holidays and went to Budapest, which is a really lovely city.**

**Anyway, since I am having some trouble writing the next chapter, I decided to try and do something a little different: …. FLASHBACK CHAPTERS! I don't know if they fit in perfectly with the story, but I think they add a complete different element. If you STILL haven't read Rose Tyler at Torchwood, I recommend you do so immediately. **

**Enjoy x**

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Max sighed as he walked to the Sector I lab on one of the higher floors of the Torchwood building. He had had quite a long day, trying to track down several deadly aliens that had come through the rift. Rose's new team had been on red alert throughout the whole day and ready in case they were ordered to go and look for the aliens personally. Although the call never came and the aliens had been sucked back through the rift again, Max was still tired. It was about ten pm but he still had to collect several lab results and write a report.

He walked along the spotless white floor, his shoes making a loud tapping sound. Although agents often worked at Torchwood overnight, today there was an eerie silence and stillness in the air. Max turned left and then right, seeing his reflection reflected on the shiny floor by the lights overhead. He passed the white room that had remained mostly closed off ever since Pete, Jake and Mickey had gone to deal with the cybermen in that parallel universe. The room was bare and empty and had since remained unused. Now however, Max was sure that he heard a noise as he passed it. A sort of sniffing sound. He went over to the door but it was locked. The lock was strange too. Torchwood used very specific locks on all their doors, electronic locks that automatically scanned the person entering to check their identity and clearance level. But this lock was clearly fitted for a Yale key. He leaned closer but hurriedly straightened up as he heard footsteps coming his way. A man with dark skin and brown hair rounded the corner.

Mickey Smith.

Max had to admit that he didn't like Mickey Smith very much. He firmly believed that one had to have good qualifications and at least one university certificate when joining Torchwood (although Rose Tyler had proven him wrong on that point, but she was an exception) but Mickey Smith was somehow…different. He and Jake Simmonds were indirectly Pete Tyler's second in command, although Max neither understood nor knew why. Sure, Mickey Smith was good with computers, in the field and could identify certain aliens, but other than that…

There was something almost strange about this man. Not to mention that Max couldn't fully understand his relationship with Rose. Max had thought they didn't know each other that well, but they seemed to have a very strong bond and acted like they had known each other since kindergarten…their intimacy suggested an excellent friendship, or possibly something even beyond that. They constantly held each other's hands, hugged and were always together. Max saw him as a bit of a rival. Ever since Rose Tyler had proven just how excellent she was with aliens and how worthy of her rank and title, Max had fallen for her. It had been almost two years since his girlfriend, Naticia, died at the hands of the cybermen, and he had finally moved on and was ready for a new relationship.

Mickey Smith's footsteps got louder until the man was standing almost directly in front of Max.

"What's going on?" he asked, slight suspicion colouring his voice.

Max frowned slightly, but answered anyway. "I heard a noise coming from the room. But the room is meant to be closed off".

Mickey looked at the door with a new, sad but understanding expression on his face. "I'll take care of it" he said immediately and looked pointedly at Max who hadn't moved. "You can go now".

Max fumed and let his anger show, but didn't complain. Although Mickey Smith wasn't a Commander, he held almost as much power and was the head of the tech department. Max, who had just been promoted to a lieutenant a few weeks ago, didn't want to lose the power his new rank gave him. So he nodded and walked away, but quickly hid behind a corner and watched Mickey take a small key out of his pocket and slip it in the lock. The door swung open but he immediately closed it behind him.

Max hurried to the adjacent corridor, where there was a tinted window belonging to the white room. He could look inside the room, without Mickey properly noticing him. Most extra rooms at Torchwood had windows like this, with special settings to tint them either from the inside or outside. Right now he could see what was going on in the room but not be seen. He punched in the audio settings and put the connecting headphones on. He could hear everything.

The sight shocked him.

Rose was curled up against the wall, with her check pressed up against it and tears running down her face. She was shaking with silent sobs. Max saw the pained look on Mickeys face. He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. "Rose" he said gently, but she didn't react. He sighed and stroked her hair, waiting for her to speak.

"he's gone Mickey" Rose choked out after a while. "I can't feel him anymore. He's never going to hold my hand again, he's hug me again, comfort me again, comfort me again, make me laugh. We're never going to run for our lives again, he'll never jump in last minute and save me again. Ever."

"I know, babe, I know" Mickey said soothingly. "But life goes on".

"But _I_ can't!" Rose told him, finally turning to face him. "I've seen so much and I can't live on knowing he's alone with no one to stop him. He had _me_ Mickey, but now we're both alone."

Mickey didn't know what to say to that, so he just hugged Rose closer. Her head dropped against his shoulder. She looked completely exhausted.

Max's eyes were wide as he took in the scene. He had been assigned to Rose's team for about two weeks now, but Rose had already been at Torchwood for over two months. He had _never_ seen her lose control like this. She was a good Commander, nice and fair, but reserved. She didn't really show that much emotion, but that didn't really matter anymore, seeing she had already proven herself to the whole of Torchwood.

But this scene…Rose, with no self-control, her body raked with sobs, tears flowing at an uncontrollable pace and make up smeared- it was not the silent and strict Commander he knew. In her place was a young, pained and vulnerable girl.

Max watched mickey hug Rose closer and stroke her back, until the exhausted girl eventually fell asleep against him. Max watched mickey quickly speak into his Bluetooth earpiece.

"Pete – yeah it's Mickey. Rose fell asleep-"

…

"We're in the top room at the moment-"

….

"No, you don't need to come-"

…

"Okay". He pressed the button and didn't jump when the door swung open. Pete Tyler stepped into the room.

"How is she?" he said worriedly, immediately hurrying over to Rose's side and sitting next to her. Mickey sighed sadly.

"I don't know how long she's been here" he admitted. "Lieutenant Rogers was passing this room and I think he heard her. I sent him away." Pete nodded.

"I think you should take Rose off field work" Mickey said suddenly. At Pete's quizzical expression he continued: "She's depressed. She promised Jackie she wouldn't do anything intentionally, but is she dies when she's working for Torchwood…"

"Are you saying this job is too dangerous for her?"

"No, I am saying that she isn't being careful. If she could offer her life in exchange for the earth's safety, then she wouldn't hesitate." Pete nodded understandingly.

"I noticed" he said, pain evident in his voice.

"You know about the aliens that came through the rift today?" Pete nodded in reply.

"She went after them herself. She didn't ask her team. They were all on red alert, completely ready in case she needed them, for the whole day, but nothing. One of the reasons she has a team is to help her out and prevent her from doing something like that. I saw her and I followed. These aliens weren't primitive, they could have destroyed the earth in two hours flat-and they were planning to."

Pete wasn't happy. He loved Rose as a daughter and he hated seeing her so unhappy. But he couldn't take away her pain, however hard he tried. "What happened?" he asked.

"She found out their plan and was demanding they kill her but leave the earth and its people in peace." Mickey snorted lightly. "I suppose they were going to kill her first and then the rest of the earth. I got there and dismantled their weapon technology just before they shot Rose". He paused and took a deep breath. "You should have seen the way she looked at me. She looked almost…angry. And disappointed…She was disappointed that she was still alive." He finished. Pete looked heartbroken.

"I don't blame him" Mickey added. "You should have seen her with him, vibrant, happy and so very full of life. She's had a lot of hardship in her life and as much as much as I think that I helped her get over that, it was the Doctor that ensured the full recovery. I know right now he's the same as Rose, if not worse. Rose has us-he has nobody He loved Rose and he definitely blames himself for what happened. "

"I can't blame him either" Pete said, although his voice didn't hold the same certainty and conviction as Mickey's.

"I'll take her home" Mickey said, lifting Rose up effortlessly and carrying her over to the door. Pete nodded.

"Thank you Mickey", he said, watching him leave the room with Rose in his arms. He sighed to himself. He looked at the pot Rose had been pressed up against. The wall was still rock solid. He sighed again and left the room.

Max took the headphones off slowly, shocked at what he had just heard and witnessed. The name 'Doctor' was familiar, most of Torchwood knew who he was. Pete had mentioned him, he was the man who had discovered Lumic's plan and helped get rid of the Cybermen-without him it wouldn't apparently have been possible.

'Well he wasn't fast enough' Max had thought as the Director had described the Doctor., thinking of his family, who had been murdered by the cybermen.

Rose also talked about the Doctor sometimes. 'The Doctor would know' was her favourite phrase to use when she didn't know what to do during an invasion or when she didn't know what type of aliens she was dealing with. He was the man with whom Rose had travelled with and who had apparently taught her everything she knew. It was clear that Rose loved him, though Max wasn't sure if it was in a friendship or romantic way. From the beginning of the conversation he had just heard, he would have guessed that the love wasn't romantic, but towards the end it sounded like it was.

But it didn't matter much. This man had caused Rose this extreme pain. He hadn't acted fast enough to prevent Max's family and girlfriend from getting murdered. Max hated him. He decided to be there for Rose, in case she ever needed someone to talk to. The only way for her pain to subside was for Rose to get over this man-the same way Max had gotten over Naticia. They had each other now.

With this in mind, Max set off back down the corridor.

**Thank you for reading.**

**Do you like these flashback chapters? I already wrote another one, but not from Max's point of view. Instead I picked Owen, for a reason you'll see in future chapters. Please tell me what you think in a pm or in a review.**

**Please review guys! Like I said, I have writers block, so reviews are a great help.**

**Laura x**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey guys! Sorry for the time it took to get this chapter up. I have loads of ideas, but organising them and writing them out takes a lot of time and is really frustrating. Also be warned: I'm entering my exam period again, so updates might not be as frequent. **

**Sorry.**

**This isn't a flashback chapter, I don't think the next flashback chapter is going to come all that soon. :D**

**Also, I apologise for the delay in surprises and Confrontations, a chapter should be up in the next few days.**

**Not that much happens in this chapter, but it uses the flashback scene. Also there is a healthy dose of Max/Doctor rivalry ;DD **

So far the day had gone fairly smoothly, Rose thought, satisfied. The questions had taken up most of the morning, but it meant that Torchwood accepted the Doctor. Many looked excited about working with him and asked him many questions about his travels through space and all the creatures he had encountered so far. The also talked to Pete and Rose a lot, Rose told some of the more recent Torchwood agents about him and Pete Tyler told the interested one about the Doctor's involvement in stopping the Cybermen. Eddie was also surrounded with people, who all had questions about the Doctor's biology.

They all needed a break when the questions finally subsided.

But Rose was still a little worried about Max. Although Pete had said that Max had had no complaints in his office this morning, Rose suspected that that was simply because hadn't wanted to get in anymore trouble. However, during the conference and question round, he had stood at the back of the room, his posture rigid and straight and a look of displeasure and distrust on his face. Rose decided that she needed to talk to him. Today, if she had time, or sometime in the next few days.

She truly liked Max, he had been one of the few people who had somehow kept her sane after the Doctor. Somehow, finding someone who was grieving as much as her helped. Max had been a good person to talk to, to grieve with, and he was someone who understood her sadness. Unfortunately, Rose had never told him that she had loved the Doctor romantically, she had a feeling he thought it was a strong friendship, or possibly almost a father daughter type relationship, seeing she had told him that the Doctor was a lot older.

Of course, seeing the Doctor was now practically married to her in Gallifreyan standards, and although there definitely w_as_ an age difference and he was an alien, they did love each other and it wasn't just a simple relationship. She knew Max had to get over the feelings he had for her, but she was scared that it would be hard for him. After all she hadn't gotten over the Doctor in almost six years, and although she didn't think Max's feelings for her were that strong, she knew it wasn't just a simple crush. The thought that she was hurting Max this much broke her heart; she had never wanted to cause him this pain intentionally.

She didn't mind when Max tagged along after lunch. They were currently on one of the top floors of Torchwood, and on a floor that Rose secretly hated. Max shoulders were always rigid when he was on this floor too, and he always walked a little closer to her, as if being protective. Rose wondered if he knew about the white room and about her feelings towards it, though she couldn't figure out how - maybe he had overheard her somehow. Now she was on this floor with him and the Doctor. She could see that Max was itching to somehow hug her, or hold her hand or inch closer to her somehow. But right now the Doctor was close to her (in Max's opinion _far too_ close) and holding her hand.

Max didn't think it was right. He remembered seeing Rose in that room, crying because of the Doctor, and now he was casually strolling through Torchwood, holding her hand.

The second they neared the room, the Doctor heard some sort of noise from it and went inside the second Rose had turned around to ask Max something. The door was unlocked for some reason.

The second Rose saw what the Doctor was doing she called out: "Doctor don't go in-"

But it was too late. The Doctor had already entered the room, and both Rose and Max heard his sharp intake of breath. Rose sighed, pain crossing her face. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to stop the tears (though Max thought she was annoyed. "Stay here!" she told Max, and ran into the room after him.

"Commander-" Max began, but she had already disappeared into the room. Max stood there fuming. He had been used to always being with Rose, talking to her, almost getting to the point where he could hold her hand and then the alien had simply sauntered in, stealing his role. Max had been so sure that he had almost reached the point where he and Rose could have a relationship, but now there was practically no chance. The alien was now the one Rose smiled at, whose hand she held and who she hugged. Now he was the one being treated like some sort of extra unwanted person standing on the sidelines. Rose had never commanded him to stay put somewhere like that. He frowned angrily, balling his hands into fists. He knew what that room looked like; he had seen Rose crying her heart out in that room. He wanted to go in and comfort her. Now.

He was staring at the room so intently that he didn't notice Pete Tyler's coming up behind him.

Pete Tyler stared at Max, wondering what was going on. Max was standing there, angry and staring at the room as if hypnotised. "Lieutenant Rogers are you alright?" he asked worriedly. Max whirled around.

He paused, wondering how to answer. He wasn't sure if the Director was on the Doctor's side or not.

"Your daughter is in that room sir, and I don't know whether I should go after her or not", he replied. A worried expression crossed the Director's face.

"She ran in after the Doctor entered against her wishes sir." Max added.

"Ah" the Director said, understanding. He supposed Rose and the Doctor needed some alone time in that room. "I think it would be best if you gave them some privacy for now, Lieutenant."

"I beg your pardon?" Max asked shocked. Pete Tyler raised his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry" Max hastily added. "But what if the Doctor is doing something to R-"

"I have already assured you Rogers that the Doctor is no threat" Pete Tyler said, and this time there was an edge to his voice.

"But Rose is so different!" Max protested. He couldn't help it. Ever since this alien had come, Rose was not being herself. In only a few hours, Max had seen her become silly and giggly. And the only person she was now cold to was him-it had always been the other way around before! This was not Rose, the Doctor had to be manipulating her somehow…Eddie had said he was telepathic. Maybe it was mind control?

The Director sighed. "I assure you that Rose is perfectly fine. She is simply not as sad anymore. The Doctor poses no danger to her or to Torchwood. I suggest you let them have their privacy in that room Lieutenant."

With that he walked back down the corridor, leaving Max rooted to the spot.

Max shook his head. He had to go in and make sure Rose was okay.

The door was ajar, and he tiptoed into the room. The Doctor was standing against the white wall, the white wall Max had seen Rose leaning against so many years ago. The Doctor had one cheek pressed up against the wall. Rose was standing behind him, almost unsure as to whether or not she should approach him. "Doctor" she began quietly. The Doctor turned to her, and picked her up into his arms. It took all of Max's willpower not to interrupt.

"I'm here" she whispered to him gently, hugging back just as tightly. Max stepped out of the room just as they broke apart, and sighed with relief, they hadn't seen him.

Or so he thought.

The Doctor knew that Max had been behind him the whole time. He had heard him come into the room, heard his accelerated breathing when he and Rose hugged, hell, he had even heard him talking to Pete outside. He hadn't bothered saying anything; this was a moment he wished to share solely with Rose. But she heard him too, as he hurriedly exited the room.

"Doesn't he understand the meaning of privacy?" the Doctor asked, slightly annoyed. He got that Rose and Max were friends, but seriously the man needed to take it easy for a change.

Rose sighed. Yes, she loved Max as a friend, but his behaviour was getting on her nerves.

"Apparently he thinks I am not safe" the Doctor told Rose with a slight smile. Rose raised her eyebrows.

"He was talking to Pete and thinks that it's not safe to leave you alone in a room with me."

Rose smiled slightly." Depends how you see it Doctor" she said cheekily. "If you had kissed me while you hugged me it would have been extremely tempting, and who knows what might have transpired…"

"Ah, I see, so we should thank Max for keeping us in line?" he asked. But he was also smiling. Rose nodded and led him outside, where Max was doing his best to remain unsuspicious.

"Should I lock it?" the Doctor asked and Rose nodded. He took a TARDIS key from his pocket and reached out to lock the door.

"_You_ have a key?" Max asked, dumbfounded. He was about to turn Rose to ask why the _alien_ had a key to that particular room, but Rose got there first.

"Yes he does. In fact, that's the _original_ key to that lock, mine, the Director's and Mickey's are merely copies."

"You _gave_ _him_ the original k-" Max began, furious. Why hadn't _he _gotten a key?

"No Max" the Doctor jumped in, and although his tone sounded pleasant, there was a steel edge. He was getting annoyed with Max. He knew it didn't matter that much, but technically he had a higher rank, and Max shouldn't be treating him so disrespectfully.

"What Rose means-"

"What _Commander_ Tyler means-"Max corrected him.

"Rose to me" the Doctor replied. "I don't use rank with her".

"Well you should!" Max retorted. "It's a case of respect!"

"Maybe for you _Lieutenant_, but –"

"_Enough!_" Rose said, annoyed. This 'cock and bull' thing was stupid, though she had to admit that she did find it _slightly _amusing.

Both men turned around to look at her. Max looked extremely angry, but at least a bit sheepish. The Doctor looked annoyed, but still completely confident, unlike Max, who was probably questioning his bond with Rose a bit.

"The Doctor's key is the key that my key was modelled from" Rose said calmly and instinctively reached for the Doctor's hand.

"But yours isn't a copy" the Doctor told her. "The TARDIS made that for you personally."

"Really?" Rose asked, pleasantly surprised. "I thought you just carried around spares all the time."

"Yeah. But the TARDIS made that one especially for you".

"_Who_?" Max asked, frustrated. He hated beingout of the loop_._

"My ship" the Doctor said shortly.

Great, just great Max thought. Our new Commander thinks spaceships are living things.

**Thank you for reading. I know I am always switching back and forth with Max, sometimes showing him in a positive and sometimes in a negative light. I know most of you hate him, but I like him as a character, although I do think he can be a bit of a twat…but still.**

**Please review! **


	17. Chapter 17

**I've realised that I've really been neglecting Olivia and Mickey in this fic, so this is more of a fill in chapter centred on those characters. I had a request about seeing a jealous Rose so voila! I've also added some sort of confrontation between the Doctor and Max. Hope you enjoy!**

The first day at Torchwood had gone smoothly. The Doctor only hoped the second day would be okay too and that Rose would talk to Max soon. Otherwise he would have to do it and that wouldn't be a pleasant experience for either of them.

Rose had gone to get her lunch in the cafeteria while the Doctor stayed in his office, looking at several printouts about the rift Eddie had recently given him. He already liked the calm and level headed soldier, he was very open minded. The Doctor was so immersed in the readings that he barely registered the knock on his door.

"Come in" he called at the second impatient knock. The door swung open and Olivia entered, smiling to herself.

"Olivia" the Doctor greeted, surprise colouring his tone. He had hoped it was Rose, but then again, Rose generally didn't feel the need to knock on his office door.

Olivia smiled seductively. "Good afternoon Commander."

"Please, call me Doctor" he hurriedly told her, he could see why Rose disliked the title so much. He felt like the captain of a military base.

Olivia's smile grew wider. "If you insist, _Doctor_". She perched herself on the edge of his desk, ignoring his surprised expression. "How are you settling in?" she asked.

The Doctor smiled good naturedly. "Fine." He replied happily. "I suppose it helps that I am on good terms with Pete and Rose though."

Olivia laughed, although it sounded a little forced. "Yes, I noticed. How do you know our Commander exactly? All of Torchwood's heard about you, but Rose never did mention the specifics…"

"Oh you know…" the Doctor began, unsure of what to say. He was secretly thrilled that Rose had talked about him so much, but if she had been unwilling to mention specifics…

"We just kind of ran into each other one day." He said. "She was brilliant, and she saved my life, so I asked her to come travelling with me."

Olivia nodded, pretending to be fascinated. "And where are you from exactly Doctor?"

The Doctor's expression darkened slightly, but he tried to paste a smile on his face. "Oh, um a faraway planet. It as far as I know, it doesn't exist in this universe. But its name was Gallifrey."

Olivia leaned closer to the Doctor, batting her eyelashes. She knew that the Doctor and the Rose were close and that she had to hurry up if she wanted to seduce him. She had taken extra care with her appearance today, applying a whole tube of mascara and wearing very tight fitting pants and a low cut top. She shifted again on the desk, giving the Doctor a good view. To her displeasure the Doctor simply stared at the readouts.

"I was wondering" she began in a quieter and almost upset tone, which immediately got the Doctor's attention. He raised his eyebrows in concern.

"Well you see, I got this readout to examine at home. It was actually something Heidi had to do, but she already does so much that I wanted to lighten her load. But unfortunately, I don't understand it at all. It has something to do with rift activity and all these objects that came through, which is not my area of expertise. But I don't want to give it back to Heidi…Could you please come over and look at it for me?"

"Ummm" the Doctor said. He was generally a very sociable person and would have agreed, but seeing the way that Olivia kept leaning forward towards him with that low cut top…it made him slightly uncomfortable. He wished Rose would come.

"I would just be quick but I could make dinner and everything" Olivia added slyly. Her smile turned almost wicked. "And I have quite a few ideas for dessert. Tell me, do you like whipped cream?"

The Doctor closed his eyes for a second, the innuendo was clear. He groaned inwardly. First he had Jack in the other universe, and now he had Olivia, who had just indirectly asked him to sleep with him. Lovely.

Thankfully the door finally opened and Rose stepped in with Mickey. She narrowed her eyes when she saw Olivia on the Doctor's desk, shoving her breasts in his face. Mickey simply raised one eyebrow, unimpressed.

"Rose!" the Doctor shouted gleefully, grateful for the distraction. He immediately stood up and made his way over to Rose. Olivia frowned but stayed on the desk.

"Olivia?" Rose asked, trying to control her anger and jealousy. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, I just wanted to talk to the Doctor here" Olivia said curtly, shooting a grin at the man in question.

"About?" Rose asked. She was aware that this was actually none of her business, but she saw the look in Olivia's eye and knew what she was planning.

"Oh just a readout I have to write a report on" Olivia said nonchalantly, as if the subject suddenly didn't matter anymore.

Mickey raised an eyebrow. "If you are having trouble with a read out then I am sure Max or Eddie could help you. Or Rose. I don't see why you especially needed the Doctor's help."

Olivia huffed slightly, but refused to leave. Rose closed her eyes for a second and decided that from now on she really needed to make her relationship with the Doctor clear-even if it was unprofessional. She walked over to him and he reached for her hand-a normal thing for them.

"I need to discuss something with you" she said quietly, but in Olivia's hearing range. "Privately" she added, with a pointed look at Olivia. But she still refused to budge.

"I didn't finish my conversation with him" Olivia said to Rose, annoyance clear.

Rose frowned again, but decided to change her tactic. "Well, then you can finish it now." She said brightly. Mickey nodded.

"In fact, why don't you get the readout and we'll all help you."

Olivia fumed, but decided to play along. "Okay. I'll be back in a sec." Rose smiled as she left the office.

The Doctor smirked slightly. The uncomfortable situation had almost been worth seeing Rose get jealous. Rose sighed to herself and hugged him.

"Jealous?" the Doctor whispered to her with a slight smirk. Rose groaned.

"Am I that obvious?"

"You're quite adorable when you're jealous you know" the Doctor told her. I should try to make you jealous more often."

"Don't you dare!" Rose hissed, pretending to be offended, while Mickey chuckled.

"Heads up, boss, she's coming" Mickey said, as he spied Olivia walking down the hall.

The Doctor smiled. The best way to prevent situations like this in the future would be to clearly show everyone that he and Rose were in a relationship. The second Olivia approached the door he tilted Rose's chin up so that he could kiss her. She was surprised by his move, but immediately realised what he was doing and kissed him back enthusiastically. Both of them heard Olivia enter the room and stop cold in her tracks when she saw them. They pulled apart, smirking slightly, but the Doctor kept his arms around Rose.

"I ummm, I seem to have left the readings at home" Olivia said, and everyone could hear the sharp displeasure in her tone.

"Well, I am sure we can discuss them tomorrow Olivia, don't worry."

Olivia nodded, and left the office, a sneer on her face.

"Does anyone else have the feeling we should pair her with Jack?" the Doctor asked.

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Rose and Mickey had gone to write a report on the dimension cannon while the Doctor went to the cafeteria to eat lunch. He got his sandwich from a smiling cafeteria lady and sat down at an empty table. A second later he was joined by Max.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How may I help you Max?" he said with false politeness.

"By telling me exactly what you've done to Rose!" Max hissed, with no pretence of friendliness.

The Doctor mock furrowed his brow…"Well, let's see, I've talked to her, hugged her, made her pancakes this morning, kis-"

"_Not what I meant alien!"_ Max snarled. "What happened to the woman I know? Did you brainwash her? Manipulate her? Are you controlling her?"

The Doctor raised one eyebrow, completely unimpressed. "You seem to have quite an imagination Max. In most people I would consider that a good quality. But with you…" he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

"Shut up!" Max all but yelled and attracted stares from several other agents. "Answer me Martian, or you _will_ regret it!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I'm not from Mars" he said. You work with aliens Max. You should know that."

"Just answer my question!"

"I haven't done anything to Rose!" the Doctor said curtly, irritation showing. "I really don't get what your problem is Max".

"You're my problem!" Max responded angrily. "Ever since you've been here, Rose hasn't been herself. I've known her for almost six years, and this giggly woman isn't Rose, so you're not fooling me."

The Doctor sighed. "How much do you know about her Max?" he asked. "Because some pieces of information seem to be severely lacking."

"I know lots of things about her!" Max retorted. "I know she's from a parallel universe, I know about her past life, I know you broke her heart and hurt her." He almost smiled in satisfaction when he saw the look of pain flit across the Doctor's face, but then it was gone.

"Is that it?" the Doctor asked, taking a bite of his sandwich. "I have to admit that you haven't exactly made a lot of progress in the last few years Max. I know a _lot_ more about her than that. Have you ever asked her about what she did before she came here? _How_ she ended up in this universe? What her childhood was like?"

Max said nothing.

"I thought so" the Doctor said. "I hate to break it to you Max, but this isn't the girl you thought you knew. "

"I know her!" Max insisted angrily. "And I'm going to find out whatever it is you're doing to her".

The Doctor shook his head. "I wish you good luck with that. But the easier method would always be to _trust_ me".

"Not likely" Max hissed. "I don't trust aliens."

"Well, I certainly hope you conquer your xenophobia in the future" the Doctor said, seemingly unaffected."

"You better learn to watch that mouth alien!" Max snarled, hands once again going towards his gun.

"Listen to me" the Doctor suddenly hissed, his patience having reached its end. "You really don't want to get into a fight with me. I _love_ Rose, and I would _never ever_ do _anything_ to hurt her intentionally. I know you fancy Rose, but this behaviour isn't going to help. I've seen a lot in my life, but I've never been involved in a rivalry for the affections of a gorgeous and lovely 26 year old girl, but I assure you _Lieutenant, _thatit would be wise not to pick a fight with me over it."

Max fumed but the Doctor looked back, his brown eyes dark, danger flashing in them.

"I'll let you get on with your lunch Max." he said, and his voice took on the normal, false pleasant tone he generally used with threatening aliens. "Hopefully I won't see you later."

With that the Doctor left the cafeteria. Rose better talk to Max.

_Soon_.

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**I have quite a lot of ideas for the next few chapters, but I would love to hear any suggestions you guys have (I'm not guaranteeing I can work them all into the story). **

**Please review guys. I want at least 94 reviews. Thank you!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay, it might just be useful to repeat that Rose is now only part human, because of bad wolf. She is still Rose, but bad wolf gives her a much longer life span, makes her brain absorb information very quickly and lets her heal from injury quickly. Small references to bad wolf will be appearing.**

Rose sighed to herself as she walked across the interconnecting sector corridors, her black shoes rapping loudly against the white floors and the empty sound echoing through the space. She was currently on her way to talk to her father about the dimension cannon but also about what to do with Max. She was meeting the Doctor in Pete's office, he should have a say about what they should do with dimension cannon.

She inserted her electronic key card into the lock and stepped into the large office. As the director, Pete Tyler had a small lab to himself, along with a study and computer area with access to all files, results and sample information ever collected or written down.

The Doctor was already there, sitting on one of the larger armchairs. Pete Tyler hated bare and business like studies, and he had converted his own to a more living room like area, complete with a coffee table, sofa and fireplace. He was currently sitting on the sofa; frowning over a report the Doctor had given him. He looked up when he saw Rose and smiled at her. "Hello Rose" he greeted and motioned for her to sit down. The Doctor sprang up from his place to hug her, less than an hour without her and he already felt edgy. Rose went to sit down with the Doctor in the armchair, making herself perfectly comfortable on his lap. Pete raised an eyebrow and concealed a smile at their behaviour, the two of them acted like teenage lovers. The Doctor's hand was already entwined with Rose's.

He quickly finished reading the report and passed it to Rose, who had it read in less than half a minute.

"I want to know your views on it" Pete said.

"You want to know whether we should take it apart or keep it." Rose clarified. Pete nodded.

"From what the Doctor and the tech department say, the dimension cannon could prove dangerous now that the walls between the universes are closing. One accidental press of a button and we may have a universe torn apart."

Rose nodded. "But there is no guarantee that we can make one again", she said. "Years of hard work and research went into this, and although the process was described in absolute detail, it might not be possible to make a new one."

"And a new one might be necessary one day" The Doctor added. "Anything out there could try something similar to what the Daleks did, possibly even on a larger scale. The dimension cannon could prove very helpful."

Pete considered this. The dimension cannon was an extremely advanced piece of technology, which made it incredibly helpful, but also extremely dangerous. And he was unwilling to take chances.

"I think we should keep one" Rose voiced, guessing Pete's thoughts.

"I know it's a dangerous piece of tech to have" the Doctor filled in. "But if we have a sample piece it would be a lot easier to make another in case the need arises."

Pete nodded thoughtfully. "We would have to store it somewhere safe though" he said. "If an alien gets his or hers hands on this, then we would be in big trouble."

"Perhaps we could store it in the vaults?" Rose asked. "If we put it in a top security but unsuspicious vault no one will think of looking for it there-the vaults are full of old files and documents-stuff that's been here for almost two hundred years."

"I have a better idea" the Doctor said. "I know the new TARDIS isn't done yet, and won't be for at least another 11 years, but I can still figure out a way to make a perception filter. That way we can hide the dimension cannon".

"A perception filter is what's used on the TARDIS" Rose quickly added so that Pete would get what they were talking about. "When you saw it the first time it was a blue police box yeah? But you didn't notice it till we pointed it out right?"

Pete nodded.

"That's what perception filter does-literally shifts your perception away from an object…or a person" the Doctor explained, thinking of the year that never was.

"And you think you can design one for the dimension cannon?" Pete asked. This solution was exactly what they needed.

"I am almost certain of it" the Doctor responded confidently. He frowned slightly in thought.

"How many people should know about this?" he asked.

"The three of us, Mickey and Jake." Pete responded without missing a beat. "The less the better".

"In that case I might need a separate lab station" the Doctor said thoughtfully, shifting Rose on his lap slightly and putting one arm around her waist. She leant into him, smiling at the comfort and closeness.

"Or we would need to clear a whole lab…and possibly the sector around it, just to keep somewhat confidential. But that would be a lot of work, and there would be a lot of questions." Rose added. "It would be so much easier if we use one of the private labs near our office, and lift the clearance level."

Pete nodded. "I'll get Mickey and Jake on it. Mickey will install the entrance recognition system codes so that only we will be able to enter."

He took the report from the table and put it in a folder on his shelf. "Now" he said in a slightly lighter tone, walking back to the coffee table. "I heard there have been some problems with Max.

Both Rose and the Doctor sighed. "Pleasant fellow" the Doctor said, but seeing both Pete's and Rose's disbelieving looks he grimaced. "Okay no, not very pleasant at all, rather annoying actually and really needs to tackle his xenophobia and respect other people's privacy. But you know…".

Pete smiled slightly. "You said something about lunch today?..."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Lunch?" she asked surprised. "Don't tell me he tried to turn the lunch ladies against you?"

Pete snorted with laughter, thinking of how, a year ago, Rose would never ever have made these kind of jokes.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Actually, the lunch ladies are very pleasant people…unless they're Kriillitanes. That would just be stupid, not to mention extremely inconvenient. But still…wouldn't hurt to do a background check….no?" he trailed off, seeing both Rose and Pete's raised eyebrows. Both of them were holding in laughter.

Rose sighed theatrically, but immediately squealed as the Doctor began tickling her. "Stop!" she cried, trying to grab hold of his hands.

Pete cleared his throat, smiling inwardly. "The point here is…."

"Right, the point!" the Doctor said. "Basically he's just being extremely annoying and such. He keeps thinking I'm brainwashing or manipulating Rose and basically shouting it in front of everyone. And this would be the second time he's almost pulled out a gun on me".

Pete nodded. "Max is a god agent, but I understand the problem. He is very determined and can be rather headstrong. But I'm not sure what to do about it."

"I should talk to him" Rose spoke up. "This situation is my fault".

The Doctor was about to interrupt, but she held a hand up. "I let him get closer to me than I did other agents, and I think that's what caused it. He thought he knew me, but he doesn't. If I explain it to him, maybe he'll believe me".

"I suppose that would be the best way to go." Pete agreed.

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Max was sitting in his office (only 3 rooms away from Rose's) trying to concentrate on paperwork. He had just been in the archive room, trying to find any information on Time Lords and mind control, but had so far been unsuccessful. It didn't matter.

He wanted his Rose back, and he would manage it.

There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in!" Max called, sounding rather annoyed, he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. The second he saw Rose in the doorway however, he smiled.

"Max" Rose greeted, slightly reserved, but with warmth in her voice. It sounded like the Rose he knew.

"I need to talk to you for a sec" she said. "Do you mind?"

"I am always here to listen Rose" Max said, taking down the small bed in his office and sitting on it, patting the place next to him. Rose sat down gingerly, a little further away than he would have liked, but still within a friendly distance.

"It's about the Doctor" she said.

Max curled a hand into a fist, but his voice was gentle. "What's he doing to you Rose?"

Rose looked surprised. "He's not doing _anything"_ she said, with a trace of anger in her tone.

"Oh don't give me that crap!" Max said impatiently. "Tell me Rose, you can trust me".

Rose sighed again, but looked at Max steadily. "Max…you have to believe me. He's not doing anything to me, no mind control, no brainwashing, and no manipulation. He's just making me happier than I've been in years".

"See, he obviously made you say that" Max retorted. "You're different Rose, completely different, and have been since he set foot in this place. Every time you're close to him you act this way-like a giggly and silly teenager." Rose groaned in frustration.

"No Max. I admit I'm gigglier than usual, but how do you think I behaved before all this? Before the whole parallel universe mess? Do you think I was so serious, always hiding my emotions behind a mask like I used to?" She shook her head sadly. "I was a teenager Max, silly and giggly like the rest".

"But…" Max began. "I _know_ you Rose. This isn't you".

"That's just it Max" Rose said. "This _is_ me." She took a deep breath.

"When I came here I refused to talk to anyone. Do you know why? Because I was grieving. Every time I would open my mouth, try to make myself smile or show emotion, tears would spill over. To keep that in check I would be all strict and silent. It was a mask, a defence mechanism."

"You're saying that you've been lying to me the whole time?" Max asked, suddenly angry. "Everything you talked about, the way you acted, the things you said, that was all a _lie_? A mask as you put it?"

"No!" Rose cried, he wasn't getting it. "It was still me Max, especially with you, but not the whole me. Even after six years, I was still so unhappy. I never moved on, I never managed what you managed."

Seeing that Max was still furious she continued. "I _love_ the Doctor Max. And it's not just friendship, it's complete, utter and romantic love. And before we got separated, the two of us were always holding it back, scared in case it ruined our friendship. And now we're here, with no universe separating us and we finally gave in. And I'm happier than I've ever been Max."

She saw the hurt in his eyes. "I'm sorry if I led you on" she said heavily. "You're one of my best friends Max, and I love you, but not like I love the Doctor. "

"But he hurt you!" Max nearly yelled. "I saw Rose, I saw just how much you suffered because of him! In the white room, crying your heart out! Practically going on suicide missions, always because of him!"

Rose closed her eyes. So Max had seen her in the white room that evening, seen and heard everything.

"He did that to you Rose, and now you expect me to be best friends with him after nearly killing the woman I love?"

Rose closed her eyes, tears almost threatening to spill. She had been so sure she could make it through this talk with a calm composure.

Max loved her.

But she could never love him back. Not the way he wanted her to, not the way he thought she would.

"Mickey did" she said quietly after a while.

"What?" spat Max, confused.

"Mickey and I dated for over two years" Rose said. "And he sees the Doctor as part of the family."

Max eyes went wide as he processed this information. Mickey and Rose had been together.

"I'm sorry Max" Rose said. "I'm sorry that I hurt you that way, and that I never told you. But you have to stop this behaviour towards the Doctor. You have to accept that the feelings between me and him won't weaken or change."

"How do you know that?" Max said, ice in his voice. But it was mixed with hopefulness and that just broke Rose's heart.

Rose shook her head, not bothering to answer. "You're still my best friend" she told him with a small smile. "But you can't behave like this towards the Doctor. Pulling your gun out on him? Threatening him and taunting him? It's not going to work Max. It will only get you in a worse position." With that she left the office.

The Doctor was waiting in hers, not sure what reaction to expect. He certainly didn't think she would come in with tears streaming down her face. Ignoring the knot in his stomach (he hoped to god Max hadn't hurt her, and he couldn't help feeling a little jealous, wondering if Rose just how much Rose loved him) he held open his arms, and pulled her down on the sofa, holding her as she cried.

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**Okay.**

**Right.**

**Phew.**

**That was a really really difficult part to write. I am not sure whether I got the chemistry between max and Rose right, but I hope I didn't disappoint anyone.**

**Please drop a review xxx**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, just to warn you, this chapter is short compared to the previous ones, a fill in chapter if you like. Enjoy anyways xx**

She didn't cry the heart breaking way she had after Bad Wolf bay, instead she cried small, silent little sobs, letting her tears trail down her cheeks at such a fast speed that even the Doctor couldn't wipe them all away. He gave up trying after a while, and simply held her, stroking her hair or her arms. Her lower lip stopped trembling after a while, her shoulders stopped shaking and the tears ceased, but smudged mascara still provided evidence of her pain.

Rose leant her head against the Doctor's shoulder, trying to forget the conversation that had just taken place.

"Sorry" she said quietly to the Doctor. She hadn't wanted him to see this.

"Do you love him?" the Doctor asked quietly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His voice was gentle, betraying no guilt or anger, but Rose still heard the fearful note in his tone.

Rose sighed. She felt confused, scared, sad and guilty. "Yes" she said finally in a small voice, and tried not to flinch when she felt the Doctor's body stiffen.

"But not enough" she continued. "He wants so much more, and I can't give him any of that. I can't return the feelings he has for me; I can only lead him on further and cause him more pain." She took a deep breath.

"I always saw him as a friend, and I thought I made that at least somewhat clear to him. But I just hurt him more."

"You can't blame yourself for this" the Doctor said gently. "Although you do have a habit of making people fall in love with you, it's not exactly a crime".

Rose gave a small smile at this, but inside her guilt built up again. How many people had she hurt? Mickey, Jack and now Max.

She and the Doctor sat in silence for a few more minutes, until she finally wiped her eyes and got up. I feel like going home" she said. "Is that okay?"

The Doctor nodded, his hand slipping into hers as he stood up. "Of course. Pete won't mind?"

Rose shook her head. "I choose my own hours".

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The ride home was mostly silent, the Doctor sensed that Rose needed the quiet. In this type of situation he would generally ramble incoherently about useless and unneeded information, simply to fill the awkward silences and to distract himself. Rose however, preferred to be silent and lose herself in her own thoughts.

He wasn't scared that she wouldn't get over this, Rose was tough and she had gotten over worse situations. But Rose was so compassionate, and she would always blame herself if she caused other people pain. Even if it was completely unintentional.

Jackie sensed that something was up when they got home, and though concerned for her daughter, said nothing but made a cup of tea as Rose curled up on the couch. The Doctor sighed to himself, raking his hand through his hair, making it stand up in every direction.

"What happened?" Jackie asked quietly as he followed her into the kitchen.

"She had to talk to Max about some things…"

"Ah. Well I suppose on one hand the talk is long overdue, but on the other, I hoped she would never have to go through with it…" Jackie said as she finished dunking the tea bag and brought Rose her cup. "Let me talk to her alone okay?" she whispered. The Doctor nodded and went up to their bedroom to start sketching out plans for the perception filter.

Jackie sat down next to Rose gingerly, holding her own cup of tea. "Sweetheart?" she asked carefully.

Rose sighed sadly, her eyes downcast.

"Sweetheart, what happened?"

Rose finally looked up. "Nothing much" she answered. "I just had to talk to Max about certain things."

Jackie raised her eyebrows, but waited in silence, knowing Rose would tell her when she was ready.

Rose took a sip of tea; it was hot and burned her tongue. She set it down on the table and saw her mother looking at her sympathetically.

"He loves me mum" she said suddenly, eyes closed. Jackie immediately reached out to hug her daughter.

"I had to tell him that I changed and that I love the Doctor and Max just snapped. And the worst thing about it is that it's my fault. I let him get closer to me than I did most other people and I knew he had a thing for me but I just let him believe that that cold, hard and strict façade was _me_."

"But he knew about the Doctor?" Jackie asked, although she already knew the answer. Rose nodded.

"And you never kissed Max, never held hands with him on normal occasions, never asked him out or referred to him as your boyfriend?"

Rose shook her head. "Course not. I mean we went to a café once or twice and we saw a movie once, but I never said it was a date".

"Then you can't blame yourself. You never gave him any signal that you were anything more than friends; he just decided to interpret everything. I know it's hard Rose, but it'll be fine. He'll move on."

"But he hates me." Rose said quietly. "I knew he loved me-or I suspected it anyway. And I never told him that I saw him as a friend. And now he's not just angry at me, but he hates the Doctor too."

"Because the Doctor is alien and competition correct?"

"Yeah. And he saw me cry once, when I didn't know he was there, and he hates the Doctor because he hurt me."

"Does he know what happened between you and the Doctor?" Jackie asked.

Rose shook her head silently. "I never talked about the specifics. With anyone."

Jackie nodded and drank the rest of her tea. "Well then, it's not your fault. This is life Rose, it's not always perfect- and you didn't hurt Max intentionally. I get what he's going through, but if he really loves you then he should be happy for you, like the rest of your friends."

Rose nodded, feeling somewhat relieved. Naturally her mum would stand up for her, but Jackie's tone was sincere.

"Now" Jackie said. "I believe you have someone upstairs who's probably pacing up and down the room because he can't hold your hand and using his superior senses-"(she rolled her eyes)-"to listen in on the conversation."

Rose smiled-and it was a genuine smile this time, not just a small one. "Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks for the tea."

"You're welcome sweetheart" Jackie said with a smile, knowing Rose was thanking for a lot more than just the tea. "Oh, and if you're not going back to Torchwood today, do you mind picking up Tony from kindergarten? I have some things I need to do."

"Sure" said Rose, already making her way up the stairs.

"Thanks love" Jackie called up the stairs, but received no response. She rolled her eyes. Rose and the Doctor couldn't stand being away from each other for more than 15 minutes could they?

**Please review :D**


	20. Chapter 20

Days passed, and Rose returned to her normal self. Her life was great- a mix of Torchwood, family, fun and love. She really appreciated the universe she lived in now; she no longer preferred her old one over this one. With the Doctor at her side, Rose was truly happy.

Even Max's behaviour had improved a bit, but he was still the one thing that didn't stop Rose's life from being truly perfect. He didn't pull out his gun at the Doctor anymore, but his attitude hadn't changed much. Although the Doctor was Max's Commander, Max didn't respect him the same way he did Rose. Rose guessed that only time could fix that, Max would realise after a while that the Doctor wasn't manipulating her and that he did actually love her.

As for the relationship between Rose and Max, it was once again healed…kind of. Max had realised that he had hurt Rose and immediately called her to apologise. Of course, his feelings hadn't changed at all, he still loved Rose and hated the Doctor, but he decided to cover up his strong dislike and be as nice as possible to Rose to make up for her tears.

Of course, he had to admit that he was extremely hurt about all that Rose had said, but decided that the Doctor must still be doing _something_ to her, and so he readily forgave her. But it was becoming harder to keep his emotions in check around the Doctor. The fact that this person was the reason his family was dead, and that Max still firmly believed he was doing something to Rose, not to mention that the Doctor had already hurt Rose so much in the past made Max hate him. Besides, seeing the woman he loved smile adoringly at someone else, hug someone else, kiss someone else, and look at him that special way (even if it was probably all fake) killed him from the inside.

Even so, he kept his mouth mostly shut, but clearly showed just how much he disliked his new Commander. Unfortunately most of Torchwood liked the Doctor very much; some were even falling for him. They saw him as funny, clever, charismatic and also incredibly handsome, and some had even tried to make a move on him-but they had all been disappointed.

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.

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The Doctor loved his life. He had Rose, and that alone was a huge reason to be happy. The years without her had made him realise just how much he adored this little pink and yellow human, and that he couldn't live without her. However, he also had something he hadn't had for almost a hundred years-a family. He knew that if he had thought of Jackie as family in his 9th incarnation and realised that he would spend a big part of his life living with her and discussing domestics with her, he might quite possibly have killed himself. Now however, he didn't mind at all. He wasn't used to an environment where he was treated like he was with the Tylers, but he loved it. Tony had started calling him 'uncle' a few days ago (causing Rose to erupt in giggles and Jackie drop the plate she was carrying), and although the Doctor had been shocked at first, he liked the new title. He still preferred being called 'Doctor' but the fact that Tony had accepted him like this warmed his heart. Tony seemed a lot like Rose too character wise- always excited about the unknown, wanting adventure and interested in everything the Doctor told him about space, time travel and gadgets. He was also full of compassion (crying when he saw a dead slug on the way to kindergarten and insisting they bury it), sweet and affectionate.

Alien adventures were also not lacking. Although Rose had told the Doctor that her team didn't hunt down aliens _every day_ the Doctor wasn't so sure and was always ready should the call come. The missions so far hadn't been very dangerous, generally they were just species that were unaware that earth was a level five planet and not a pleasure planet to use for their own gain.

Today however was different.

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The Doctor, Heidi and Mickey had been sorting through some unknown alien tech (Heidi had already decided that the Doctor was a godsend-he had managed to identify all tech, and knew exactly what it did and such and wrote all reports on it, sparing Heidi hours of stress and frustration) when suddenly Rose's voice came through his earpiece. "My team is to be ready in five minutes and waiting in the 2nd sector 1a garage with all equipment please. Doctor, I need to see you in my office now".

"Coming Commander" Heidi immediately answered and went to the cupboard to pull out two black protective jackets. She threw one to the Doctor. "You'll need this" she said simply, already zipping up her own and gathering her equipment. The Doctor simply stared at the jacket with an almost shocked look on his face.

"Seriously?" he said. "I've been saving the universe for centuries and I've never needed a protective jacket!"

Mickey laughed. "Yeah but it's protocol boss. You wanna get fired in your first week?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, sighed and eyed the jacket critically.

"You better get to Rose's office Doctor!" Heidi said hurriedly grabbing a case with her lab equipment. The Doctor nodded and hastily left the room.

Rose was sitting at her desk, waiting for him, also in a black jacket. "Hey" she said, a smile on her face. The smile disappeared as she handed him several photos. "These aliens have just been detected on an abandoned camping ground outside of London. They're causing some trouble and quite a lot of panic. Our translation department have managed to pick up some readings, but I have no idea what they're saying. I don't know them so I don't understand them. Can you identify them?"

He studied the pictures Rose had passed him and sighed. This was not good.

"They're Skillaxsyans" he explained. "They live in the same solar system as the Sycorax, they're on the neighbouring planet. Like Raxacoricofallapatorius and Clom. Unfortunately, they don't really differ much from the Sycorax, aside from being rather more primitive in their ways. At least, that's what they were like in the other universe."

Rose nodded. This was not good. The Sycorax were fairly violent and very unwilling to make any compromises. She hoped that these Skillaxsyans wouldn't be as bad, though she doubted it.

"The team will need to know this" Rose said, grabbing his hand and heading towards the lift. "Oh, and put that jacket on."

"You're kidding right?" the Doctor said. "I've managed to save the universe in perfectly normal clothes so far...oh, except the scarf" he said to himself as an afterthought. "The scarf was bad…oh, and the celery stick too-still, saved my life a few times but-"

"You're rambling" Rose said with an affectionate smile once they entered the lift.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "And how exactly are you going to shut me up?"

"Like this" Rose said with a slight smile and kissed him.

"I like that method" the Doctor said with a small smile when they pulled apart. Rose simply grinned and they exited the elevator hand in hand. Rose's team was already waiting in front of the shiny black jeep; Eddie had just been loading some equipment into the back. The Doctor and Rose smiled in greeting, and both sat in the front. Rose didn't miss Max's frown, he hated the new seating arrangement-it had always been him in front with Rose before the Doctor came along.

While they drove, the Doctor filled everyone in on the Skillaxsyans, and how he knew them in the other universe. Rose decided they would have to be careful, she suspected that they would be a lot like the Sycorax, but this was a different universe, and perhaps they could prove friendly.

They reached the camping ground, and the Doctor immediately realised that the ship was hidden, with something quite similar to a perception filter, except much stronger. Rose issued the command to split up and search, they all had their communicative devices. The Doctor wasn't too sure about the idea, but it made sense. "Who's with who?" he asked.

"Max and Olivia are with me, and you'll be with Heidi and Eddie." Rose announced. She had already made the decision in the car. If she put Max in a team with the Doctor, who knew what would happen, and they really didn't need a fight on a mission like this one. And she was scared that Olivia wouldn't focus properly when the Doctor was around-and she could really do without the not-so-subtle-seduction attempts. But she and the Doctor couldn't go together in a team, it was better to have the two people who were somewhat experienced as leaders of separate groups.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, he wasn't at all happy at being separated from Rose, and if he was very honest with himself, then he was worried and a teeny tiny bit jealous. Worried, because if the Skillaxsyans would be like they were in his universe, than Rose could be in danger, and jealous because Max was with her instead of him. He knew that his jealousy was very stupid; he knew Rose loved him after all, but he couldn't help it. However he kept quiet, because he understood Rose's reasoning.

"I suggest scanning for life signs, heat and that kind of thing" Eddie said, having already pulled out his scanning equipment. The Doctor nodded, pulling out his sonic. "Be careful" he whispered to Rose gently.

"You too" Rose said. "And don't you dare regenerate on me!"

"Wouldn't dream of it!" The Doctor said with a grin, and walked off with his team.

"And put the jacket on!" Rose called after him, receiving a theatrical groan in return.

Her team started walking around and scanning the area, and they found the door to the spaceship very quickly. Olivia quickly spoke to Eddie over her earpiece, telling him the coordinates, and they heard the Doctor making his way into the ship.

They split up again, though this time the Doctor had to admit that he would have felt a lot better if they had stayed in a group. He, Eddie and Heidi walked around, picking up samples and scanning for life signs, when they suddenly heard a scream and the sound of footsteps. The Doctor looked up, alarmed, as Max and Olivia rounded the corner.

Without Rose.

He didn't care about Max and Olivia this second; he needed to know Rose was safe. He kept looking, hoping to see the familiar blonde hair, or hear footsteps, or a laugh, but there was nothing. Only Max and Olivia's panting.

"_Where is she_?" he demanded, taking in Olivia and Max's frightened expressions.

"They found us and she tried to talk to them but they took her, and hurt her with some sort of electric thingy. We only just got away" Olivia said, and her voice wasn't bristling with her general confidence, but with undisguised fear.

That was enough for the Doctor. He took off down the corridor at a sprint; the rest of the team could hardly keep up. He needed to find Rose now, before they decided to torture her or even worse kill her. Luckily, he could still feel her presence at the back of his mind; it assured him that she was still alive. Skillaxsyans were primitive, they didn't have the electrical whips the Sycorax had, but there weapons were just as painful and could kill a person after excessive use. If they thought of Rose as a threat…

He burst into a large room, where about a hundred Skillaxsyans were gathered. He felt Eddie nearly crash into him, but he didn't care, instead he searched the room for Rose. He sighed in relief when he found her, she looked alright and she was conscious. But she seemed to be suspended in the air by some sort of force, and mostly unable to move by restraints they had put on her. They made eye contact, and he smiled slightly at her, assuring her that he would get her out of this.

"Hello!" he said brightly to the Skillaxsyans, who were all standing gawking at him. "You seem to have captured my companion. You alright?" he asked Rose with a smile, waving at her.

"Couldn't be better!" Rose called back.

Her team stared at the way the Doctor and Rose interacted. Less than a minute ago, the Doctor had been sprinting through the ship, desperately trying to find Rose and now he was simply waving to her, as if this was a perfectly ordinary situation?

The leader stepped forward, carrying a large spear. He was large, almost as tall as the Doctor, with armour covering his body. His face mask was on, but the Doctor knew that under it was a lizard like face with cold and angry eyes and very sharp teeth.

The Skillaxsyan replied angrily in its own language, and only the Doctor understood. However, the one was not friendly.

The Doctor replied, and the conversation switched to English.

"Like I said" continued the Doctor in a very cheerful and pleasant voice, "I can't exactly blame you for capturing her, Rose is _very_ jeopardy friendly. And I mean very! Do you know, we were on parallel earth once and she managed to get herself trapped in a basement with a werewolf-"

The Skillaxsyan roared in anger, and attempted to strike the Doctor with its spear.

"Oh come on, there is no need for that!" the Doctor said, grabbing the spear and chucking it away. "I am trying to have a pleasant conversation!" The Skillaxsyans all roared at him and the Doctor sighed in mock disappointment. "Fine, let's get straight to the point. I am going to need to warn you. You can't take over this planet. I know you think this planet is just here for you to turn into a battleground, but under the rules of the shadow proclamation, you cannot hurt this planet. Understand?"

"We don't care about the Shadow Proclamation!" the Skillaxsyan ground out. "We want slaves and we want war with the Sycorax."

"Ahhh, you see? That where the essential problem lies. This earth is defended; it's not as defenceless as you think."

"We have weapons" the Skillaxsyans chanted around them. The Doctor rolled his eyes, listening to their chants of war and bravery. It reminded him of the Sontarans.

"Sorry don't mean to be rude (although I seem to be rude in this incarnation quite a lot) but could you shut up?" the Doctor asked. Heidi stifled a laugh, despite the situation.

"You're chanting all about war and weapons, but we have weapons here on earth too. So I suggest, with the utmost politeness, that you all _leave_."

The Skillaxsyans began chanting again, and after a while the Doctor lost patience and started shouting at them, all pretence of friendliness gone. After a long shouting match and something that seemed suspiciously like a duel with spears, the Skillaxsyans finally made the wise choice, released Rose and left.

The second they were gone, the Doctor picked Rose up in a bone crushing and desperate hug, closing his eyes. "Never do that to me again" he almost growled, ignoring the team's shocked expressions. He gently brushed her cheek where the weapon the Skillaxsyans had used had left a scar.

Rose didn't reply, she simply hugged him tighter. It took a while for Max to realise that she was shaking.

The Doctor let Rose go after a while, but still clutched her hand. He had been truly scared this time.

But it took the team a while to realise that. They were all used to seeing Rose simply shrug after a mission like this, even when she had been inches from death. Now however, she looked scared, and practically clung to the Doctor, looking extremely relieved.

She and the Doctor conversed in low voices as they neared the jeep, and the others decided to give the two privacy.

Once they got back to Torchwood, both Rose and the Doctor were once again cheerful and smiling, but still refused to let go of each other. Both of them were very relieved when the day ended and they could finally go home.

**Okay, I have to admit that I didn't like this chapter very much….but by all means, please review anyway! ;DDD Updates depend on the number of reviews.**

**Next chapter should be the Torchwood Christmas party! Yay!**

**Laura xx**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello Guys, sorry for the wait in this chapter due mostly to the fact that I've been watching Much ado about Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate three times a day since the download came out :DDDDD). **

**As promised, this is the xmas party, but not the full version. I noticed that this chapter was getting quite long, and so I decided to divide it up into half-that way I can update it quicker. **

**Hope you enjoy it anyways xx**

The Doctor had been in Pete's world for a little over two months now. He loved his life and even Max couldn't ruin the euphoric sensation. Unfortunately, the Doctor realised that Max's dislike for him wasn't just a phase, it went a lot deeper. He was starting to think that it was something closer to hate.

Luckily, Max had finally started accepting the changes in Rose, and although he disliked the way Rose acted, even he couldn't fool himself into thinking that it was mind control anymore. This new realisation had done little to change his attitude, and he made his dislike known through seemingly subtle hints. The Doctor had learned to ignore them, but they still angered him. Rose was also an (unintentional) cause of the tension that existed between the two. Her relationship with the Doctor had been widely publicised by the media, and the whole world now knew about it. Torchwood, who had learned not to trust everything that the media said about the vitex heiress, also quickly noticed that this was a very serious relationship.

Of course, most of Torchwood had noticed that Max had a thing for his female Commander, not because he wasn't subtle about it, but simply because it was hard to miss. They also noticed that Rose let him become close to her, and the two were often seen talking. They did speculate about their relationship, but realised that Rose never treated him with such extreme preference as she would treat a boyfriend. Both Mickey Smith and Heidi Jenson supported this theory and both were extremely angry when they heard rumours flying around.

Unfortunately the rumours only increased when the Doctor came, as Torchwood certainly wasn't blind. They could easily see the tension between the two males.

Today however, the Doctor couldn't care less. It was almost Christmas and Pete was hosting his annual Christmas party. Most of Torchwood would be attending, but also several celebrities and government officials Pete was acquainted with. Because of this, media would also be present, which came as no surprise. Rose had wrinkled her nose at the idea, knowing that whenever the media couldn't get a story they made things up. Seeing there would be dancing at this party, the media would go crazy and speculate about her having a possible affair with all the people she would be dancing with. Pete made a decision to have several select photographers and reporters in the room, while the paparazzi could gather outside and watch the arrival. Rose was content with this suggestion.

Of course, with most of the media being outside, the family would have to make an appearance.

Jackie was currently conversing with her stylist, who was giving her make up tips. Pete and Tony were also getting themselves ready, Tony having to appear in a suit like the rest of the Tylers. The Doctor grumbled about this, and desperately hoped that the particular tuxedo he would wear tonight wouldn't bring any bad luck. He was waiting in the lower foyer for the rest of the family, hurriedly fastening his bow tie. He heard footsteps and gasped as Rose came down the stairs. She looked beautiful.

Her dress was long, just touching the floor, giving her a graceful air as she walked. The dress seemed to be made out of some sort of shimmery material, and was deep purple tainted with black. The top was scrunched up, with a line just below the chest and the rest of the material flowed down, like a waterfall. Thin straps held the dress in place. Rose smiled as she came down the stairs. Here hair was straightened and touched her shoulders and her eyes were outlined with black, so that they sparkled.

"You like it?" she asked, when the Doctor didn't say anything.

The Doctor reached for her hand, eyes never leaving her face, making Rose blush.

"I love it" he answered. Rose smiled again. Even though the Doctor used the word 'love' in relation to her a lot more often now than he did before, she still felt extremely happy when he said it.

He was about to kiss her when the rest of the Tylers came down the stairs.

"The media is waiting outside sir" a servant told them and Rose groaned slightly. Pete laughed.

"It'll be over before you know it" he assured her and the Doctor.

He was right, the Doctor thought when they came back in. All that was required was simply to stand there and smile while the media snapped pictures. Some of them yelled questions but Pete refused to answer, simply stating that he wasn't going to comment. After a while, they all went back inside, blinking from all the flashes the cameras had let off. Rose and the Doctor went to the dancing room to entertain Tony, while Jackie and Pete stayed by the front door to let the selected media and guests in.

Within ten minutes the main room was full, and the catering staff that had been assigned for the evening had to take great care not to crash into anyone. The Doctor nudged Rose. "Remember doing that?" Rose laughed slightly.

"Out of all the people we could have been, we had to be catering staff."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "That skirt and apron looked…quite good on you."

"S' that why you chose it Doctor?" Rose asked, grinning slightly.

"Definitely one of the reasons" the Doctor whispered, just as Mickey came over, holding a short and pretty brunette by the hand.

"Nice to see ya boss!" he said happily. "This is Leslie, my girlfriend."

Rose smiled at the two of them. "Glad you two could make it."

Leslie returned the smile, slightly uncertainly. She worked at Torchwood as well, but was still one of the lower agents. There was a slight tension between her and Rose, namely on her side, because of Mickey. Mickey had told her that he and Rose had dated once, and Leslie spent some time feeling second best-after all, she hadn't known Rose in the other universe, and she had no idea that the girl her present boyfriend had dated hadn't been the rich, clever and beautiful vitex heiress. The fact that the media had spent weeks speculating about a possible relationship between Rose and Mickey didn't help the matter along. And although Rose had always been very friendly to her, even in her reserved 'Commander Tyler' mode, Leslie was always on edge whether or not Rose wanted Mickey back. Mickey and Rose understood each other on a level Leslie couldn't comprehend, and that had scared her for a while. Even with Mickey's constant reassurances that there was nothing going on between him and Rose, Leslie felt uncertain, and she was very happy now that Rose had gotten her own boyfriend.

Rose and Mickey were not blind to this, but the matter didn't bother Rose.

The Doctor looked delighted to meet her, and quickly extended a hand. Leslie seemed a bit surprised by his forwardness, but smiled shyly.

She, Rose, Mickey and the Doctor quickly got into conversation about all sorts of things, and Leslie felt any unease she had melting. After a while Rose had to go and greet some other guests, and the Doctor went with her, leaving Leslie and Mickey to dance.

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.

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After having greeted most of the guests (which took a _long _time) Rose and the Doctor finally had some time to themselves.

"You do this every year?" the Doctor almost yelled over the noise.

Rose nodded. "Yeah. Pete Tyler is famous for hosting huge Christmas parties."

"Would you like to –" The doctor began, but Max and Olivia, who had suddenly appeared behind them, finished the sentence.

"Dance?" They both said, Max pointedly ignoring the Doctor and only looking at Rose, while Olivia fluttered her eyelashes at the Doctor.

He and Rose simply looked at each other for a split second. Seeing that they were, in an indirect sense, acting as hosts, they couldn't exactly refuse. So they both nodded and took up their respective positions on the floor. A slow song had just started.

"You look beautiful" Max whispered to Rose as he twirled her.

She smiled. "Thank you Max."

They continued dancing, and she felt herself looking down, because Max was looking at her with a gaze full of intensity.

"We haven't had a chance to properly talk for ages." He said softly. "You're always with the Doctor". This time, there was some very faint accusation in his voice which Rose chose to ignore.

"Yeah. How are you doing Max?" she asked softly. Max was partially right, they worked together, but they no longer went to coffee shops to talk like they had before the Doctor.

He shrugged slightly. "I'm holding up. Torchwood keeps me busy, but I'm getting lonely. I miss our talks."

Rose nodded, not knowing what she should say to Max. The line the two of them were walking on was so very fragile, their friendship could shatter soon. Rose didn't want that.

"I had a of free time before, and now-"

"Now you spend all you time with _him_" Max practically snarled. "Always him Rose. We go on a mission, and it's him who you make the decisions with."

"He is a Commander-"

"I wasn't, but you still included me! You spend time at Torchwood holed up talking with him, or with the Director and him, or in that secret lab that not even I am allowed to enter! When I try to call you on your cell, we always talk briefly and then you hang up." His time, Max's tone was full of accusation.

"I'm sorry." Rose said, and although her apology was sincere, she was starting to get a tiny bit annoyed. "But Max, this is my…well technically my husband, and I can't help not spending time with him."

"Max suddenly looked like he was choking, absolute shock and anger covering his features when he recovered. "You're married?" he snarled. His gaze drifted down to her hand. "You have no ring."

"We're not married in earth standards" Rose said quietly. "And it shouldn't matter to you".

"Why not?" Max demanded angrily. He twirled her again, until they were dancing on a different side of the room, with the Doctor and Olivia on the other side.

"Because it's none of your business" Rose retorted, once she had recovered from the slight dizziness. She raised her eyebrows. Max still looked angry, but he was smiling slightly.

"Mistletoe" he whispered, and kissed her.

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**Okay, sorry about the ending :DDDD Just seemed like a good place to end. Please review xx**


	22. Chapter 22

**Okay, this is the follow up chappie to the last one. It's short, but it's all I could manage today. Hope you like it xxx**

**Oh, and a HUGE thanks to my absolutely awesome brother Jonatan, who (after some forcing) went through all the chapters in this story so that he could give me tips and advice. He has been a huge help! Thank you Jon! 3**

Rose let him kiss her for about two seconds, but attempted to make him stop when he put one hand on the side of her face and wrapped the other around her waist. She saw several camera flashes go off in the background, making her angry. Kissing under mistletoe like this was a Christmas tradition, but she knew that this kiss meant a lot more, and that Max wanted it to be a lot more. She turned her head, breaking the contact, and withdrew. Max's arm was still around her waist and slowly trailing down back towards her shoulder, but she pushed him off slightly, until they were barely touching.

She slowly shook her head. "It's not going to work" she said quietly. "I still love him."

Max's eyes narrowed and his arm went back around her waist. "It was only tradition" he said, with a faint smile. The smile was the wrong type though, not friendly and sweet, but almost…possessive?

Rose stepped closer to Max, until they were inches apart. "_That_ was more than tradition." She said, her voice quiet but angry. "You know it was, and you did it on _purpose_."

Max simply raised his eyebrows.

"It's not going to work Max. I don't know how exactly to tell you this in a way that will make you realise. I love him, Max, and only him. Forever and ever. How long is it going to take for you to get that?" Rose took a deep breath and gasped as he spun her and dipped her so that her hair was almost touching the floor.

"Then why did you treat me like that? Why did you show preference for me?" he demanded, looking almost defeated.

"You were my _friend_." Rose said as he spun her around again. "I counted on you to be there for me Max, as a good friend should. To be there to talk to, to hold me when I cry, to reassure me everything is going to be alright, and to be happy for me when I'm happy."

Max stared at her, his gaze piercing, but stayed silent.

"He was all that" she said, and felt Max growl under his breath.

"Always _him_ Rose".

"He was there for me during all those times. Even when he loved me, and didn't want to see me with anyone else. He just wanted me to be happy. But you? You make sure everyone knows that you dislike him, and you make sure that everyone knows that I apparently prefer you. That's not friendship Max."

"No it's not" Max agreed in her ear. "It's more."

Rose closed her eyes. Her next statement was going to hurt him.

"Not for me" she said, and walked off the dance floor, and outside into the freezing winter air.

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Dancing with Olivia wasn't as bad as the Doctor thought it was going to be. It was strange, but they had become something akin to friends over the months. Olivia still flirted with him like crazy, but he knew that she did it for her own amusement, and although she would love her innuendos to come true, she respected the fact that he was in a relationship with Rose. As much as she could under given circumstances anyway.

Of course, none of that stopped her from appearing in an absolutely gorgeous but very revealing dress, that clung tightly to her sexy figure. Men's eyes followed her around the room and while she danced. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Interesting dress choice" he told her with a slight smile.

Olivia smiled and fluttered her eyelashes and tightened her hold around his shoulders. "Thanks. Does that mean that-"

"No!" the Doctor immediately cut her off.

Olivia grinned impishly. "Fine." She motioned with her head. "Seems like Max is having fun with Rose". The Doctor's head immediately whipped around as he watched the two talking in low voices. Rose looked sad and Max looked a little hurt.

"Haha" the Doctor replied dryly, but kept his eyes on the two of them, while trying to keep in time to the music.

Olivia got bored after a little while. "While staring at Rose like that may be fun for you Doctor, In think the object of dancing is to actually look and communicate with the partner you're dancing _with."_

"I believe that the definition of dancing is to move rhythmically to types of music." The Doctor he answered, finally looking at her. "And it hasn't got much to do with looking at a person."

"There has to be another way to get your attention" Olivia mused playfully, turning over possibilities.

"Be my guest" the Doctor replied, her words not really registering. Well, not until Olivia spun him around and kissed him.

His eyes widened in surprise, but she had already withdrawn.

"What was that?" he sputtered.

She didn't answer him, but simply pointed up to the ceiling, where twigs of mistletoe were hanging.

Ah. Stupid human traditions.

"That wasn't exactly much of a kiss." Olivia told him. "Do I get a refund?"

"Sorry Olivia."

"Why not?" she demanded, but her tone was playful.

"You kissed me once, which is more than enough, don't you think?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest _Doctor_-"

"Rhetorical question!" he said quickly, and Olivia let out a dramatic sigh.

"Well, you might want to go and tell Max hands off then." She said pointing towards the couple on the dance floor. "Now _that's_ the kind of kiss I was hoping for".

The Doctor let go of her, and turned around fuming. Rose and Max may have been on the other side of the room, but he had a perfectly clear view. He could see the cameras flashing, and could see the way Max gripped Rose's waist. He was about to go over there to tear him off her, when Olivia put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't" she said quietly, her tone sounding serious for once. "Let them talk and straighten this out. It's about time Max learned his lesson.

"Come on." She said when he refused to move. She dragged him off the dance floor. "Give him time" she said quietly. "Thank you for the dance Doctor".

He finally tore his eyes away to smile at Olivia. "Thank you" he said quietly. "That guy over there has been looking at you all evening. Go and ask him, he should be a better dance partner than I was. He might even kiss you back."

Olivia winked saucily at him and went over to the man, who nearly spilled his wine when he realised just _how_ revealing her dress was.

The Doctor turned back around to Rose and the doctor, only to see Rose exit the room and go out on the back porch. He threw a murderous glance to Max and hurried after her, into the cold winter night.

**Okay hope you liked it. Oh, and I hoped you liked Olivia in this chapter. I never wanted her to be a big character, she was just supposed to represent a contrast to Rose and be another small obstacle in the Doctor/Rose relationship. But now I like her a lot, and might make her become good friends to the Doctor. **

**I had some people ask me not to cause a fight between rose and the Doctor because of the kiss. People, it's MISTLETOE! :DDD It's a tradition, and I promise it won't cause a row. :DD**

**Please review**


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